


Ohio Valley U

by daltonacademyfightclub



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Cuckolding, Established Relationship, F/M, Gen, Light BDSM, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Outdoor Sex, Threesome - F/M/M, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-04
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-04 20:58:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5348300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daltonacademyfightclub/pseuds/daltonacademyfightclub
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A compilation of one-shots both smutty and not revolving around the students of Ohio Valley University.<br/>(<b>Note:</b> characters listed are ones not already included in the relationship tags.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. drunken blowjobs at a college party

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Neffectual](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neffectual/gifts).



Seth Rollins was many things, but most of all, he was prideful. He wasn’t like that Ambrose kid in his first-year seminar class, always sitting behind him in the lecture hall and tapping the back of Seth’s chair with his propped-up feet. That kid drove him crazy, and he saw him everywhere on campus. It didn’t help that he was always at the football table in the caf with his buddy on the team (even though Seth was sure that 90% of the guys hated his guts), a leather jacket and dopey grin dropped into a sea of Ohio Valley University gear.

“I can’t believe he’s allowed to even _sit_ with them,” Seth complained, digging his spoon back into the ice cream that he knew was going to bring the Freshman 15 upon him like a semi. “I mean, is that friend of his just _that good_ to where they all tolerate him?”

“They’re all uggos ‘cept for him,” his friend Tyler Breeze said nonchalantly next to him, propping his feet up on the booth next to him. “I mean his friend, obviously. Your guy looks like he has lockjaw.”

Seth put the spoon down, glaring at Tyler from across the table. “He’s not ‘my guy’.”

“He’s all you talk about, though. ‘Ambrose this; Ambrose that; Tyler, you will _never_ believe what that guy did today in UNIV 1100 today.’ That’s _your guy_ , Seth. He’s yours.”

“Who’s Seth’s?” Summer, Tyler’s girlfriend, asked as she sat down next to Tyler in the booth, peeling open the cup of sugar-free syrup for her waffle. “Remind me to have a salad for dinner, Ty, sweetie.”

“It’s that Ambrose boy that annoys him in his seminar class, sweetheart,” Tyler answered, sitting up straight and tucking a piece of Summer’s hair behind her ear. “And you’d look gorgeous even if you had another waffle for dinner, but okay.”

“I’m starting to think that you have a crush on him, Seth,” Summer said, cutting vigorously at the waffle now drizzled in syrup. “I mean, you do bring him up an awful lot, and even though he looks like a lockjawed weirdo -”

“That’s what I said!” Tyler looked pleased with himself while Seth rolled his eyes.

“Maybe you’re into that kind of thing.” Summer shrugged. “Have you ever even spoke to him?”

“Why would I stoop so low to do _that_?” Seth asked, looking confused at Tyler and Summer’s startled expressions before he felt someone behind him. “He’s behind me, isn’t he?” he continued weakly as he felt his cheeks turn red.

“Look at you, smart outside of class. Heard my name and thought that I’d swing by to see what all the fuss was about.” Seth refused to deign Ambrose - whose first name he knew was Dean, but he just seemed more like an Ambrose - the satisfaction of turning around to look while he was talking. After all, he was probably still red and he didn’t need the guy to comment on that while he was at it.

Apparently that wasn’t okay, as he felt hot breath next to his ear instead. “If you’re going to have my name in your mouth, Sethie boy,” Ambrose whispered, just loud enough for only Seth hear, the roughness of his being palpable in his voice. “I’d rather you be screaming it.”

With a clap to the shoulder, he was gone, leaving Seth feeling much redder and harder in his wake. “Seth?” Summer asked, leaning forward. “What’d he say to you?”

“N-nothing,” he replied, getting up from the table with his unfinished bowl quick, determined to get out of the cafeteria before the thoughts currently running through his head tented his pants any further. “I’ll just… I’ll be in my room.”

As he power-walked past the football table, he caught the eye of the mysterious friend - whose name he didn’t know and that was unfortunate, because he was hot as hell - who nudged the person turned around to pay attention. Seth didn’t know why he thought it was someone else, but he felt himself flush red again (though he wasn’t sure he could _get_ any redder) and hurry to the washroom to put away his bowl. 

_Fuck my life,_ he thought to himself as he heard kissing sounds directed his way. _Fuck my entire life._

* * *

Dean knew very well that if he was invited anywhere, it was because of Roman. He and the big Samoan beefcake looked nothing alike, but the two of them agreed that they were brothers in spirit if not by blood, and woe betide the fuckers who tried to say otherwise. Roman took it so far as to not go to parties if Dean was not personally invited, and while he was a little put out by how far Ro had to take it, it also meant that he got to get hammered and laid regularly. 

That’s how Dean found himself in some random frat house just off campus on a Friday night. It was only about a month and a half into the semester, and with midterms coming up next week, college was in full swing.

“Maybe that Seth guy you like’ll be there,” Roman suggested as they got ready side-by-side in the mirror of their suite. “Pretty sure the invitation for this party is ‘if you make it in, you’re in’.”

“Doubt it,” Dean said with a shrug, trying to imagine the other guy who was already ready for class, glasses on and actually paying attention at too-fucking-early AM, showing up to a frat party in skin-tight pants and a muscle tank and fuck, was he tenting already? Dean looked down at himself, unaware that Roman was doing the same.

“Picturing him in party clothes, huh,” Roman asked, not taking his eyes off Dean’s crotch. “Lycra and a v-neck?”

“Just skin-tight whatever and a muscle tank,” Dean supplied weakly, turning his lower body away from Roman. “Let’s just pretend that didn’t happen and you keep doing your hair.”

Roman just shrugged and started running the brush through his hair again. “Y’know, Dean-o, it’s not good to get hung up on someone, especially if you think that they aren’t interested like that.” He stopped brushing and flipped his head over into the sink to find a place to part out strands for a braid. “You can try and implant the idea in his head all you want, but just ‘cause you got the horse to water don’t mean it’s gonna drink.”

Dean pulled his jacket on, slapping his jaw a couple times. “I think I’ll make it. You said that the volleyball team’s gonna be there tonight, right?” Roman gave a half-nod, head still down. “Then I’ll be fine. Casual student-athlete ass is better than no ass at all.”

He looked in the mirror again. “‘Sides, Ro, I think the guy might surprise me one of these days.”

* * *

Seth didn’t want to be at this party at all. 

“You’ve got me fucked up, Ty,” he grumbled as he, Ty, and Summer walked down the road to the frat house around eleven o’clock. “You’re only bringing me anyway so you have someone to call the Uber driver to cart your asses back anyway.”

“ _No_ ,” Tyler denied, looking at Seth tiredly, as they’d been over this before they’d even left campus, “you’re here so none of these mouthbreathers get anything on my vest.” He adjusted his faux (“because PETA uggos are keeping me down”, Tyler claimed) fur vest and Seth wondered how the hell someone managed to exist being one shade away from full Boy George. “You’ll have fun, Seth, you always manage to.”

Seth just huffed again and hiked Summer’s bag further up on his shoulder. Hopefully Ambrose wouldn’t be there, though he figured that he would. The place was big though, and very obviously crowded as the three of them got closer, so as long as he kept to himself in a corner on his phone somewhere, he’d be fine.

Tyler and Summer were let in with no problems, while Seth was stopped at the door by some giant guy who tugged at the strap of Summer’s bag on his shoulder. “Man-purse, really? You think you’re getting in with _that_?”

“It’s the girl’s that you just let in; I’m here with them,” Seth managed to force out, hurrying into the house as soon as the guy turned to let him pass with a scoff. It was too late, though: Tyler and Summer were nowhere to be found.

 _Looks like it’s just me and the internet tonight,_ he thought to himself, finding an open spot on the wall in the kitchen, looking on as guys and girls alike swarmed to a Rubbermaid container filled with red punch. _Disgusting,_ he thought, just as a solo cup was pressed into his hand by a guy he vaguely recognized from Biology. He pondered the drink for a second, looking down and giving it a whiff - and Jesus Christ, was it sweet - before taking a sip.

Not bad, but strong. Very strong. Seth kept taking sips, trying to pace himself. After all, spacing out drinks was recommended in the first place, so if one drink was the equivalent of many, it made sense to milk it for a while accordingly. He had no idea when the first drink became the second and the second became the third, but the next thing he knew he had slid down the wall to sit on the floor, looking at his phone screen and trying to make sense of his suddenly new home screen.

“Hey,” a voice said above him that he knew from somewhere but couldn’t place. “You ‘right?”

“I’m… I’m ‘kay,” he mumbled, graciously taking the hand offered to him so he could stand up again shakily. “I just had a drink."

“One drink?” the voice asked again. “Look at you, ya little lightweight. Let’s get you somewhere you - and your purse? - can get some fresh air.” The hand still held his, leading him out of the house slowly. The hand wasn’t soft by any stretch of the imagination, but it was warm and held his fingers gently as if the person attached to it felt that he was fragile. It made Seth feel all fuzzy inside.

“Here, you still got your bag? Okay, good,” the voice said, sitting him down on the patio stairs leading down the side of the house. “I’ll wait out here with you until you feel a little better.”

Seth just nodded, looking at the grass before the owner of the voice sat down next to him and he turned to see exactly who his knight in rough hands was and…

_Shit._

“Ambrose,” he half-gasped, half-groaned, leaning away from the other man, who seemed to be mildly disappointed at Seth’s reaction to recognizing him. “Wha’re _you_ doin’ here?”

“Went with my buddy Roman,” Ambrose replied, crossing his arms over his chest. “Think a better question here is why you have a purse. Not judging, but most guys don’t, uh, bring their satchel when trying to pick up chicks.”

“My friend Summer’s,” was all Seth could reply, feeling his cheeks flush on top of the alcohol in his system. “An’ I don’t pick up chicks. I don’t like boobs.”

Ambrose - _he kinda looks like a Dean right now, though,_ Seth thought to himself - laughed out loud at that. “So you’re a man’s man, eh? Look at me, finding a kindred spirit in you of all people.”

“You gay?” Seth couldn’t help but ask, feeling a little… different with that information. Horny-different. “Is Roman gay?”

“Roman’s something,” was all the guy said, and Seth left it at that. “You think you’ll be good out here by yourself?”

Seth shook his head no. “Need you out here wi’ me.”

Ambrose smirked like he did in class when he just knew his existence in class pissed off Seth. “What do you need me out here for, huh?” He looked down at Seth’s pants and Seth watched as the smirk turned into a filthy grin. “You need me for what you got packing down there?”

Part of Seth was adamantly averse to the idea of Ambrose blowing him at that moment in time - _he’s gross, you’re outside, and you just know that he’ll never let you live it down_ \- but the bigger part of his brain that was aching for touch won out. _It’s just head,_ he convinced himself as he nodded outright, watching Ambrose descend on his lower body like a predator after prey.

His pants were around his ankles in short order, Summer’s bag moved to the stair Seth had his back on to keep it out of the way. If Ambrose was anything right now, it was efficient, and he was especially so when his current goal was to get Seth as hard as possible. It was working, as every stroke and mouth at the front of his underwear worked to reach that goal, and Seth thought he was about to come right in his boxer briefs before Ambrose raised himself back on his haunches.

“Can I get a kiss, at least? Just one?” he asked, leaning forward with a genuine - well, as genuine as Seth could gauge at that moment - smile on his face, keeping himself between Seth’s legs. “If you get a stellar blowjob, I think I deserve a peck on the lips.”

That sounded reasonable enough. Seth leaned forward, keeping his legs spread apart, and pecked Ambrose on the lips. Fair is fair, and Ambrose must have agreed as well, because by the time he had his back back on the stair, his underwear was unceremoniously yanked down his thighs, his swollen cock exposed to the cool air.

“Look at you,” Ambrose said, kneeling back down again. “All hard for me out here - what if someone sees us, huh?” He licked a stripe up Seth’s cock, Seth feeling his eyes on him the entire time. “You gonna let me finish you off if we got a visitor?”

Seth just moaned as Dean - and he was Dean now, because Ambrose couldn’t roll off the tongue and got mixed up in the fuzziness that was Seth’s current state of mind - took him all the way down to the base, calves flexing in an effort to keep from thrusting up. _Dean, Dean,_ he thought, nothing else running through his mind until Dean ran a hand up the bottom of his shirt.

“Nah,” he continued, pressing a soft kiss to the head of Seth’s cock. “You strike me as the type who’d want _everyone_ to see this shit.”

“Just… fuck,” Seth moaned, craning his head up to watch Dean work. “No, not f-fuck, just suck, I mean -”

Dean shushed him. “Lemme do my thing, I hear you. No fucking, just sucking,” he repeated, chuckling under his breath as he went back down again, keeping his eyes locked on Seth’s as he bobbed up and down. Seth knew there was no way he was going to last very long. This wasn’t his first blowjob, but it was his first one he’d ever gotten while he’d been drinking, and those were two completely different sensations.

“Dean…” he started to say, feeling himself grow closer and closer to orgasm as Dean kept going. “Dean, I’m gonna… I’m gonna c-come, I’m gonna come.” He lifted his hips up, whining slightly when Dean pulled off in favor of jerking him off.

“You’re gonna scream my name, right, baby?” Seth pressed his elbows into the stair as Dean pressed on, spitting directly down on Seth’s cock as he pumped his hand. “Who’s makin’ you feel good right now, huh, Seth? Who’s gonna make you come?”

“Dean… Dean-Dean-Dean-Dean,” Seth shot out at rapid-fire frequency, hitting his stride as he let go, not caring how ridiculous this must look, only how fucking _amazing_ it felt. “Dean, fuck I - _Dean_!”

Seth came over Dean’s hand, eyes screwed shut in revelation as Dean’s hand slowed around him and the fuzziness in his head grew slightly clearer. “You got me in my fucking eye,” Seth heard Dean say, and when he opened his eyes he couldn’t help but laugh tiredly at the sight of the other guy scrubbing at his right eye to get it out.

“Sorry,” he apologized, sitting up for a second and steadying himself on the stair. “For that, a-and, uh…”

“Don’t mention it,” Dean replied, waving the other hand that wasn’t covered in Seth’s cum airily. “You think you’re the only person at this place that talks shit about me? At least you have some reason, since I enjoy fucking with you.”

“Why?” Seth wrinkled his nose, slowly pulling up his underwear and pants, not caring how the tight fabric seemed to make the mess around his softening cock even stickier. “It’s eight in the morning and you’re getting your rocks off kicking the back of my chair?”

“No,” Dean corrected him with a wink, wiping his own stickiness on the underside of his own shirt. “I get my rocks off from your sweet ass.”

Seth grinned. “Pulling my pigtails among other things, huh?”

“Among other things,” Dean admitted. “You want me to get you back into the party?” Dean extended his hand, helping Seth up from the stairs gently. “Oh, don’t forget your bag.”

“ _Summer’s_ bag,” Seth reminded him. He had to preserve some shred of his dignity after what the two of them had just done. “And I was thinking that maybe you and I could go somewhere a little more private for the… for the rest of the night.”

Dean grinned, looking more like when he’d asked for a kiss than when he’d went for Seth’s cock. “You wanna sleep off the hangover in my room? Alright then,” he agreed, letting Seth drape his arm over his shoulders. There was no way Seth could walk all the way back with legs like jelly. “Looks like you’re mine for the night, big guy.”

Seth laughed. “So I’m a big guy now, Dean?”

“So I’m ‘Dean’ now, Seth?”

“What, would you prefer ‘thorn in my side from class’?” Seth countered, taking steps slowly as Dean helped him along.

“I think Dean will do.”


	2. dating app threesome

It wasn’t that Summer was bored of her relationship - how could she get tired of _that face_ \- but she needed a change. A physical change that didn’t mean sacrificing her hair like she did in the ninth grade just before she met Tyler and Stacia Craig convinced her that crimping was making a comeback. Thankfully, that was temporary.

“Babe?” she asked, looking up from where she was browsing the health and beauty category of Pinterest on her phone. “I wanted to ask you something.”

“Hold on, hold on,” Tyler said, phone out a good foot beyond arm’s length at the end of a matte black selfie stick. “Just one more, I think I’ve finally got the eyes down.” Summer covered her mouth to stifle a giggle as the camera snapped one last picture. “Got it,” he said proudly, turning back to look at Summer. “What’s the question?”

“What would you say if you and I changed up our relationship a little bit?” Summer put her head on Tyler’s shoulder as he moved to join her on the couch in her suite.

Tyler wrinkled his nose in that cute way that Summer thought made him look a little like a rabbit. “How so?” he asked, putting an arm around her and opening up Instagram with the other hand. “I was talking to Seth and apparently he found out from Dean who found out from whoever that there’s a sex shop one town over, if you wanna check it out.”

“We can sometime,” Summer agreed, nuzzling into Tyler. “But I was thinking more about _someone_ else, not _something_ else.”

She felt Tyler loosen his hold around her. “Are you breaking up with me?” he asked, looking at her a little incredulously (understandably so, as Summer herself couldn’t imagine doing that). “Because if we talk, I think we can figure out the problem together -”

“I’m _not_ breaking up with you,” she assured him, putting her hand over his. “We’ve been together for so long, and believe me, the sex is amazeballs, but I’m greedy.” Summer smiled. “You’re the one I want to be with forever and ever, but I want to see what it’d be like just have sex with someone else for once.”

“Like a hall pass on the relationship?” Tyler replied, now visibly relaxed. “Do I get one too?”

“Don’t sound _that_ excited,” Summer said huffily, pouting. “I just wanna try something different once is all. One time with someone new for the both of us, and then back to full time together.”

“That sounds fine, beautiful,” Tyler said, looking at the clock under the TV while Summer followed his gaze, both of them seeing that he now only had ten minutes to get to class. He got up, closing his selfie stick and putting it in the side pocket of his bag before going back to kiss Summer on the top of the head.

“I know you won’t find someone as gorgeous as me,” he continued, smirking as he opened the door, “but good luck.” 

* * *

_Tinder or Grindr?_ Tyler asked himself as he sat in the back of the lecture hall. Either way, he knew he’d pull ass by the end of the night, and the sooner that he got the hall pass out of the way, the better. That way, Summer wouldn’t forget if he cashed in months from now and it was incentive for Summer to get a move on on her end too.

He wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about someone getting to hold and be with Summer the way he did, but that was how the gluten-free low-carb fair-trade cookie crumbles. He got his share too.

Well, Summer didn’t have to know exactly who he was hooking up with. Grindr it is.

Other than the unusual amount of users in his area - and really, he knew that the gay or bisexual male population was bigger than reported, but still - only two guys caught his eye: “TribalTatsOVU”, who was looking for fun from where he was in the adjacent residence hall, if Tyler could gauge distance properly, and a hot blond number by the name of “2bad2good”.

He tapped on “2bad2good”, expecting some cringeworthy spiel about how straight-passing he was and shit about “no femmes” and the like. He was pleasantly surprised to see nothing like that, only a mention that he was an OVU student (and at 20, probably a sophomore or junior) and condoms were a requirement regardless of status. The good news was that this guy was actually pretty attractive to boot. Not Tyler levels of attractiveness, but that was unattainable anyway. “2bad2good” was trying his damnedest to get there.

“Don’t let me down, man,” Tyler mumbled under his breath as he sent the guy a polite _What’s up?_ message. “Make this worth my time.”

* * *

Summer had her guy by dinner, because she was nothing if not efficient. It probably didn’t hurt that she’d downloaded Tinder the week before in the hopes that Tyler would agree. The guy she’d chosen was a twenty-year-old blond guy (it figured) named Dolph. He had nice abs and seemed like a nice person, his bio saying that he was a sophomore at Ohio Valley from Florida majoring in Athletic Training.

_Maybe I should show Ty and get his opinion,_ she thought to herself, ignoring the niggling thought in the back of her head that hoped he’d reciprocate and show off his pick if he had one by then. After all, it couldn’t hurt to see if the girl was good enough for her baby. He was on his way to her suite with takeout Chinese food, so she’d tell him then. Orange chicken always managed to make everything better.

“I come bearing gifts!” Tyler called ten minutes later as he muscled his way into the living are of the suite, putting the bag of food on the table and plopping down next to Summer on the couch. “How’s my beautiful girl doing?”

“Wonderful. I found my guy,” she said, waving her phone. “Have you found anyone? Well, more like anyone worthy in your eyes?”

Tyler shrugged. “I found one guy. Not amazing - he’s not me, after all - but it’s like looking in something of a funhouse mirror. If the mirror would give me a hickey.”

“He?” Summer quirked an eyebrow. _And here I was thinking my gaydar was working at 100%,_ she mused. “You’re bisexual?”

“Well, yeah… but I only have heart-eye emojis set aside for one girl,” Tyler promised her, kissing her cheek gently. “You wanna see him? Show you mine and you show me yours,” he whispered devilishly, eyes dancing like he was ready to pounce on her then and there.

Summer dissolved into giggles, opening her phone and handing it with Tinder open to the match screen. “His name’s Dolph, like dolphins. He’s a sophomore here,” she explained as she dug through the bag to get her order of chow mein out of the bag.

“Uh, babe,” she heard behind her as she opened the box. “I think we might have an interesting problem on our hands here.”

“Huh?” She leaned back to see Tyler holding up his phone next to hers, the same picture on both of the screens but instead on Grindr on Tyler’s phone. Same abs, same cheeky smile, same… guy.

They’d picked the same guy. This was the worst case of twinsies ever.

“I-I can find someone else,” Summer said, dumbfounded. It figured that her and Tyler would even have the same taste in men. “There’s gotta be someone else other than you two that I’d be interested in, you can have this Dolph guy -”

She moved to grab her phone before Tyler grabbed her hand. “No, wait! Don’t you see what we’ve got here?”

“What?” Summer wrinkled her nose in confusion.

“Babe… we both like him, he likes both of us. We can _share_ him.”

* * *

Dolph didn’t know what he was expecting when he got the message from “PrincePretty” around eight that read _Heard you were interested in a certain Summer - you down for spreading the love tonight?_

Like, what the fuck? What did “spreading the love” entail? Was this a thinly-veiled threat by a guy who looked like the lovechild of Derek Zoolander and Hansel? He laid on his bed, staring up at his phone and considering a response. It was Grindr after all, and Grindr was sexual. Maybe it was best to play it dirty and stay oblivious if this dude did want to cause bodily harm.

_I’ll spread the love if you spread those legs, gorgeous._

The next message came less than a minute later. _Check Tinder._

Dolph did, and to his lack of surprise at that point, there was a message from Summer. _Monsoon Hall, Rm. 1999. Come ASAP._

Well, if Dolph was going to die on this campus tonight, at least it was before finals and at the hands of two beautiful human beings. He pulled a hoodie on and slipped into his sandals before heading out the door.

When he got to the right door minutes later, he was halfway tempted to let himself in in lieu of knocking. After all, that’d be the ultimate ASAP. He must have been anticipated, though, because the door opened just as he lifted his hand and he was met with a shirtless “PrincePretty”, Summer nowhere to be found.

“Summer’s in the suite,” Tyler said, as if reading Dolph’s mind while Dolph just stared at Tyler’s pecs. “And I’m Tyler, but you can keep calling me ‘gorgeous’ and we’ll work out just fine.” Dolph just nodded at that, which made Tyler laugh. “Hey, get in here. I’m not giving a free show to the entire hall.” He tugged Dolph in by the arm gently to shut the door behind him, placing Dolph right in the line of vision of a naked-except-panties Summer.

Holy shit. What a woman. And this Tyler guy had sex with her on the regular? He’d pay money to watch that - oh, he was going to be having sex with both of them. Right.

Holy _shit_. He might die of orgasmic happiness instead.

“Hey Dolph,” Summer said cheerily, going over to sit on the couch in the suite as Dolph managed to walk in closer to her, Tyler taking up the rear. “How do you want us? We’re both pretty flexible… literally.”


	3. I want some Stardust

_Bend low again, night of summer stars._  
_So near you are, sky of summer stars,_  
_So near, a long-arm man can pick off stars,_  
_Pick off what he wants in the sky bowl,_  
_So near you are, summer stars_  
_So near, strumming, strumming,_  
_So lazy and hum-strumming._

* * *

Ted didn’t understand what happened, but Dusty had made him promise that he was going to help Cody out, and all Ted could say was “I’ll try, sir.” The papers he’d printed from the school library on schizotypal personality disorder are clinical and cold, trying to describe people through sweeping lists of adjectives:

“Eccentric, self-estranged, bizarre, absent. Exhibit peculiar mannerisms and behaviors. Think they can read thoughts of others. Preoccupied with odd daydreams and beliefs. Blur line between reality and fantasy. Magical thinking and strange beliefs.”

“Tha’th not my Cody,” Dusty said, tugging on the brim of his OVU Football cap in frustration. Ted could only imagine how the old man was taking this. Cody and Ted had both come to OVU last year, technical “legacies” as he was the son of Theodore DiBiase, Senior, dean of the School of Business and Dusty Rhodes was the football coach for years before the two boys had set foot in the institution. Both of them had grown up around the university, going to sporting events and doing their homework in the campus library since they were little, so it seemed natural that they would be OVU Superstars when the time came. The tuition break was just a welcome bonus.

“I don’t really know what to say, Mr. Rhodes,” Ted replied, uncapping his highlighter and marking a segment on how to be a ‘mental illness ally’, whatever that meant. Cody was Cody to him. He was his roommate two years running, his best friend since forever. The change couldn’t have been more gradual in Ted’s eyes. It seemed that over the summer, everything changed.

“Call me Stardust,” Cody had said abruptly one day in July, turning to look at Ted from where they were on the latter’s lawn, lying on beach towels looking up at the stars. “I want to be called Stardust from now on.”

Ted had scoffed, elbowing the other boy’s side. “Sounds like one of those comic book guys you’re always talking ‘bout. Is that who you’re going to be for Halloween?”

“That’s what I’m going to be,” Cody replied dreamily. Looking back, Ted wondered how he could have missed Cody’s eyes glazing over slightly as he retreated further into himself. “I’m going to be Stardust.”

Cody had always loved the stars and the night sky, and it didn’t surprise anyone when he took an astronomy class in the following fall semester after that fateful night. It was the incident that took place just before midterms that upset the apple cart. One thing led to another, and Cody wound up standing on the teacher’s desk in front of the class, pointing at the star maps and rambling on and on about constellations and the “fifth dimension”. By the time security got to the classroom to take him out, he was proclaiming himself to be Stardust.

Breathalyzer and forced (though Ted wondered how they managed that) drug tests that both later came up negative led to even more tests, different in nature. Ted remembered driving Cody to an appointment he had with a specialist, grinning when he saw the tiny black star penciled in at the outside corner of Cody’s eye.

“What’s that?” he asked, turning slightly but keeping his eyes on the road. Cody reached up to touch his face gingerly, as if slowly remembering that it was there.

“It’s just a Stardust thing,” he explained, sounding unusually casual for someone who was about to be psychiatrically evaluated. “S’not a big deal.”

Ted just chuckled and shook his head. “You sure are big about this Stardust thing, aren’t you?”

Cody suddenly looked excited, turning in his seat to face Ted directly. “Do you like it?”

“It’s… different,” Ted replied with the same casual tone Cody had used earlier. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but it’s a little different.” He’d rather not upset Cody by calling him weird or something for liking what he liked. The guy had been through enough.

Now Cody’s father and his best friend sat at the older man’s desk in his office, worried for Cody’s future, unsure of what to do.

* * *

_When the creation was new and all the stars shone in their first_  
_splendor, the gods held their assembly in the sky and sang_  
_‘Oh, the picture of perfection! the joy unalloyed!’_

 _But one cried of a sudden_  
_‒ ‘It seems that somewhere there is a break in the chain of light_  
_and one of the stars has been lost.’_

* * *

A clinical evaluation sheet - which sounded so much more official than a doctor’s note - was all Dusty needed to petition the academic appeals board to keep Cody enrolled in classes at OVU. “He’th not a threat to other studenths, or to himself,” Ted heard Dusty explain from outside the boardroom door where he was anxiously awaiting the decision himself. “Cody’th a good boy. He’th just having problems right now.”

Ten minutes later, Dusty came out of the room looking pleased but obviously weary. “He’th good for another year if he keeps his grades up.” He showed Ted the form, signed by the board members and Dusty, holding him accountable for Cody’s care. “But he’th a good boy. He’ll do just fine.”

Ted smiled in relief, nodding and reading over the form. Cody had insisted on being called Stardust permanently when he and Ted were alone, and he figured that the news of the approval for Cody would be good, but the news of the approval for Stardust would be even better.

“Why don’t you go back to y’all’th room and tell him the good news. I’ll let hith mother know.” Ted just nodded again and thanked Dusty, giving the man he considered a second father a warm hug before heading back to Heenan Hall as fast as his feet would carry him.

“Co - Stardust?” Ted called as he let himself in, seeing the person he was looking for turned away from him on the bed. “You’re cleared for classes for next semester so long as you maintain a C average.”

The figure on the bed didn’t turn around, just continuing to do something with their face from what Ted could see.

“Hey…” Ted began, walking over to the bed and pulling Cody’s shoulder to make him turn around. He wasn’t prepared for the bright gold and black face paint that assaulted his vision when Cody faced him. It wasn’t a muddled mess like he first thought when his vision swam. In fact, it was beautiful; Cody had a black five-point star direction in the middle of his face, filled in black as well with the rest of his face a brilliantly bright gold to the ears. His eyes were watery and a little red, leading Ted to think that he wasn’t quite all there at the moment.

“Nice face,” Ted said weakly, managing a smile. “You done your homework yet? You probably should have, since you’ll get paint on everything if you start on it right now.”

“The Prince of Dark Matter has already completed his daily studies, but left the honorific area blank as per your wishes,” Cody - _Stardust,_ Ted reminded himself - answered pompously.

“Thanks, Stardust,” Ted replied, now completely sure that Cody was not Cody at that moment in time.

He had Cody do his homework because, at the end of the day, he still needed to learn the material in class for exams. Cody understood that Ted was there to help him, and when Ted had promised that he was doing things in his best interest, he did whatever Ted said. (It probably didn’t hurt that Ted was the only one who solely called him Stardust.)

“You can’t buy into his delusions,” Cody’s therapist told Ted, obviously concerned that Ted was also a little… off and the two of them were enabling each other’s mental illness. “His family and I are trying to preserve as much of Cody as possible in the hopes of getting him back entirely one day.”

“He’s not hurting anyone,” Ted replied defensively. “Cody will come back to me - to us - when he’s ready.”

Ted picked up Cody’s homework sheets where he saw them neatly stacked and completed on his desk, going through and writing “Cody Rhodes” at the top of each one. If Cody wasn’t in the right mental state to accept the fact that he was doing the work as Cody, then Ted made sure that it got turned in under the proper name anyway. Cody’s teachers apparently weren’t calling on him anyway for fear of backlash from calling him Cody (and blatant refusal to call for “Stardust”), so some level of class participation had to be done.

“Are the other members of the Cosmic Alliance coming over tonight?” Cody asked, having begun to clean up his paints and put them away along with the hand mirror he was using while Ted had been writing for him. “I was planning on watching the Batman defeat foes tonight.”

“You can text the Ascencións and see if they want to come over tonight, sure,” Ted said, used to the odd pair of brothers by now. “Animated or live-action, though?”

“Animation, of course,” Cody replied without hesitation, making Ted smile as he crossed the room to put the homework in Cody’s backpack for tomorrow. It was little things like that that reminded Ted that at the end of the day, Cody was still in there somewhere.

Ted just needed to give Cody his time and attention as Stardust and wait to dig deep.

* * *

_Gather the stars if you wish it so._  
_Gather the songs and keep them._  
_Gather the faces of women._  
_Gather for keeping years and years._  
_And then…_  
_Loosen your hands, let go and say goodbye._  
_Let the stars and songs go._  
_Let the faces and years go._  
_Loosen your hands and say goodbye._

* * *

Ted saw it coming before Cody had any idea of what was going on.

Cody was admittedly a bit of an anomaly around campus, especially since he had taken to wearing his face paint (which Ted helped apply when asked) and occasionally, a cape outside of their dorm room. People stopped and stared when they passed him, likely thinking that their eyes were deceiving them, because who the hell would go out in public like that?

“He’s obviously not in his right mind,” Ted heard the guy at the table say from where he was standing in line at the coffee shop on campus, Breaking Grounds. “That makes it all the more exciting, y’know? An obvious tic makes for an interesting study.”

Ted grit his teeth as he waited to have his order taken. Normally, he didn’t listen to the murmurs and comments directed his and Cody’s way, but that had been changing with time, even taking it so far as to get in the face of a baseball player in his American literature class after class when he mentioned something about “that golden freak” passing by him on the sidewalk earlier.

“You can’t _do_ that, Damien, you have to ask permission for case studies, remember?” The girl sitting across from him looked more mortified at the idea of actually talking to Cody than the fact that this Damien guy wanted to watch Cody like an animal in a cage at the zoo.

“So I’ll ask him to his face myself. He probably wants all the attention on him anyway; that’s why he’s dressed up like that. Classic histrionic personality disorder. The professor’ll love it.”

Ted gave his order to the student barista at the register, but by the time he was out of line to do something, Damien and the girl he had been talking to were gone.

 _I’ll deal with it later,_ Ted thought to himself. He had a math test coming up that he needed to study for, and Cody was doing just fine in his classes. Outside of the court of public opinion, he had nothing to worry about.

Ted came back to the dorm that night after getting dinner with a couple of classmates (he normally ate with Cody, but as Stardust, he had been getting weird about eating around others, lately - something about poison) to find Cody laying on his bed, staring at the glow-in-the-dark constellation stickers that were on his his side of the ceiling. “What’s up, man,” Ted greeted him, testing the waters as Cody’s face was already bare.

“I happened upon a potential ally today,” Cody said, turning to look at Ted almost happily. Happier than he’d been in a long time, at least. “He wanted to speak to me about what I do, and who I am. I believe I fascinate him, or so he said.”

Cody cocked his head. “Do I fascinate you?”

“You fascinate me every day,” Ted answered honestly, feeling a pit in the bottom of his stomach let him know that something bad was going on. “Who was this ‘potential ally’, what was his name?”

“Damien,” Cody replied, the way he said it making the name sound sinful to Ted’s ears. If he didn’t know better that Cody was more focused on personas than actual people nowadays, Ted would say that Cody almost sounded smitten. “He is most honorable here,” Cody explained as Ted’s mind raced to find a way to nip the situation in the bud from Cody’s end as soon as possible. “He is also two rotations older than you and I.”

“So he’s a twenty-one-year-old student and a senior, probably,” Ted translated, sitting on his bed, looking at Cody and running his hands over his face as he thought. There has to be something he could do. He wasn’t about to let some Psych major weirdo psychoanalyze his best friend for an easy A. “Did you two talk about anything else?”

Cody nodded as he spoke. “We are meeting for hot drinks tomorrow at noon,” he said, sitting up in place. “Figure that, Ted! The stars have finally aligned!”

Ted was confused. Cody couldn’t be actually interested in this guy - or was he? Did he even have the capacity to consider romance with other people, much less normal relationships? This was all too much for Ted to deal with at one time. “Don’t tell me you’re interested in him, Codes,” Ted tried to joke, the name slip dawning upon him too late.

Cody’s eyes narrowed. “Perhaps this Damien will be more than just an ally, Theodore.” Ted swallowed. He knew how deep of shit he was in when he got full-named by anyone, Cody included. “Perhaps Damien and I will become the dearest of friends.”

Ted just shrugged, not sure if he should say anything further as Cody got up from the bed and grabbed his toothbrush and toothpaste from the side table. “I have to prepare myself for sleep,” he announced, leaving Ted alone in the room to think about what had just happened.

He couldn’t leave Cody to his own devices, especially not with someone skulking around and tracking his every move for a supposed assignment, no matter how “honorable” Cody thought he was.

Cody was his. And the sooner that Ted protected what was his, the better.

* * *

_O stars, and dreams, and gentle night;_  
_O night and stars, return!_  
_And hide me from the hostile light_  
_That does not warm, but burn;_

 _That drains the blood of suffering men;_  
_Drinks tears, instead of dew;_  
_Let me sleep through his blinding reign,_  
_And only wake with you!_

* * *

Damien didn’t know what to expect when he started interviewing this Stardust character, but it certainly wasn’t falling for him in the way he had.

It all started over coffee, like some big cliché from a Hollywood movie, except one of the two people involved was wearing garish face paint and a swooping black cape. Stardust’s taste in coffee wasn’t nearly as odd as everything else about him, though Damien had to admit that it was surprising to see someone of his appearance sipping delicately on a mocha.

“So what is your name?” Damien asked, having already taken out his notebook and a pen to take notes with. “Full name, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course not,” Stardust replied with an confident air that Damien was nearly jealous of. “I am Stardust, the Cosmic Overlord hailing from the fifth dimension.”

If Damien had been drinking during that, he would have spit it right the fuck out. “I…”

Stardust wrinkled his nose, looking like an innocent, confused child. “Was that not what you wanted me to respond with?”

“Do you have a _real_ name?” Damien asked, bewildered. “Like Tyler or Devon or Jake -”

“My name is Stardust,” Stardust insisted. Damien was beginning to wonder if he’d gotten in over his head before Stardust spoke again, this time more forcefully. “But my father calls me Cody. He himself is known as Dusty Rhodes.”

 _Dusty Rhodes sounds familiar,_ he thought to himself, and then it hit him. “Your father is the football coach here?”

“Yes,” Stardust - _Cody,_ Damien reminded himself - replied, though he seemed physically sick at the admission. “Please do not call me by that name, however,” he continued, looking at Damien with pleading eyes. “I am Stardust.”

“You are Stardust,” Damien agreed, watching the way the other man’s eyes lit up, pleased at that, before taking a sip of his own americano. “Tell me about yourself, Stardust. Anything you want to talk about, just lay it all on me.”

Stardust grinned so wide that Damien thought his face would split, immediately going off on a tangent about the comic books he apparently loved to collect and read. “I especially enjoy Warren Worthington the Third, the _illustrious_ Archangel of the X-Men,” he began, hands clasped on the table between them, and the rest was history.

Dusty was more than happy to talk about his son to Damien, though Damien thought that Dusty must have assumed that he was here to help him, not examine his mannerisms for his honors thesis. After a little bit of small talk that convinced Coach Rhodes that he was understanding of Cody’s appearance and awkward mannerisms, he dropped a bombshell that changed Damien’s views entirely.

“M’boy’s got some kind of personality dithorder,” Dusty explained, waving a hand like he’d come to terms with the situation a long time ago. “I believe it’s called ‘schizotypal’ or somethin’ like that. I’ve done some research on it, but hith roommate Ted, great kid that he ith, did a lot more.” He leaned back in his office chair, apparently unfazed by Damien’s shocked expression. “He takes care of Cody more’n anyone.”

Damien felt terrible now for assuming that Cody was just in it for the attention. There were obvious signs of a happy (and smart, if his articulation and vocabulary was any indication) guy underneath the Stardust shell, Damien had seen them. The way Cody’s eyes lit up and paid rapt attention when he called him Stardust seemed unusual when it happened, but now Damien understood why Cody would be so excited to have things his way. Even the bad was a little good at heart.

Cody must have seen the same in Damien, because he wouldn’t stop texting them after they got coffee. _How are the cosmos treating you today?_ appeared on his phone when he stepped out of Coach Rhodes’s office after thanking him for his time. Damien couldn’t help but smile. Cody must love astronomy.

 _The cosmos have been working in my favor today, but I fear that my social life is suffering because of it_ , he texted back not a minute later. _Would you like to spend time with me today?_

 _It would be my pleasure,_ Cody texted back with the same promptness, a little star emoji hooked to the end of the message.

The two of them made plans to spend time in Damien’s dorm tonight, as it was one of the nicer apartment-style housing options on campus and the promise of watching something on a big flat-screen TV did nothing but sweeten the deal. Before that, though, he had a few questions of Cody’s roommate, Ted.

He knew the general area and floor number of Cody and Ted’s room in Heenan Hall, so he figured he’d solve the problem himself by knocking on doors around there and praying Ted was in to answer. Cody was in class, as his schedule repeated on Tuesdays and Thursdays and it was the latter today, so he was no help at the moment. On the fifth try knocking on doors, Damien got a reply.

“Hello?” a shirtless blond guy said as he swung the door open wide, rubbing his eyes.

“Oh, have I woken you?” Damien asked, swinging his eyes up from the exposed skin to the guy’s face. He had a bit of a butterface, but was generally stereotypically attractive. “I’m sorry - what’s your name, if I might ask?”

“Ted,” the guy replied gruffly, looking at Damien suspiciously. “Who’re you?”

“Damien Sandow, pleasure to meet you,” Damien said, extending his hand for a polite handshake. After all, if he wanted to get any information out of this Ted guy, he had to catch this fly with honey.

What he wasn’t expecting was his hand nearly getting slammed in the door as it was shut on his face. “Fuck off,” Ted half-yelled through the door in a hostile tone. “And leave Cody alone!”

“It’s _about_ Cody,” Damien half-yelled back.

The door slowly opened again, Ted only exposing his head and neck this time. “What about him?”

“I need to know what medication he’s on,” Damien said anxiously, rocking on his feet. “His father said you’d know.”

“You interviewed his _dad_?” Ted was stunned. “You’re really doing this, aren’t you?”

“Doing what?”

“Psychoanalyzing Cody! He’s not an animal, there’s nothing wrong with him, he -”

“He just has schizotypal personality disorder, I know. I’m not… I’m not profiling Cody. I’m watching a movie with him tonight and I want to make sure that I won’t be interfering with his medication schedule.” Damien noticed how his voice dropped lower, like he didn’t want to bring the subject up out loud, or at least while he was in the hallway and not inside the room with Ted.

Ted eyed him warily. “He already took his antipsychs this morning, so he should be fine so long as he comes back here tonight to be ready to take them tomorrow.”

Damien just nodded in reply, not wanting to press further and ask what Ted exactly meant by that comment. “Thanks, Ted.”

“Don’t hurt him,” was all Ted gave in the form of a goodbye, leaving Damien in the hallway alone once more.

His phone chirped, alerting him to a new text. _Can we watch Cosmos tonight?_ appeared on the screen, another message from Cody. Damien smiled softly. Cody really did like astronomy. That was nice. He typed out a quick reply to send back as he headed to his apartment to get ready for tonight.

_We can do whatever you want._

* * *

_Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;_   
_I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night._

* * *

Ted figured that Cody would have enough sense to come back on his own: he didn’t know Damien like that, after all, and even though the other guy seemed to be a little more timid and accepting than expected, Cody hated staying out too late in places he didn’t consider home.

 _If I stay over at Drew’s studying just for tonight,_ he reasoned with himself, _it won’t make that big of a deal in the long run._

Boy, was he wrong.

The last thing expected when he walked into his dorm the following morning, ready to gently coax Cody into taking his medication, was exactly what he got. Cody, lying in his bed with Damien of all people, and from what Ted could process in the short time he gave _to_ processing the situation, Cody was shirtless.

“What. The. Fuck.” Damien must have woken up when Ted came in, because he shifted his weight and opened his eyes slowly, expression going from drowsy to shocked once he recognized Ted’s figure in the doorway.

“I-I can explain -” Damien began, voice barely above a whisper and husky with sleep as he tried to sit up in bed, Cody’s head on his chest impeding that movement.

“What did you tell him?” Ted interrupted, tone sharp enough to pierce skin as he felt his hands ball up into fists. Cody didn’t do this, he never really had; that’s what made him a great roommate from the beginning. And now he was getting taken advantage of by some senior who probably thought it’d be funny to get on his good side and bang the weird kid for kicks.

“I don’t understand,” the asshole said, confusing clouding his dumb face.

“What did you say to him?” Ted took a step closer to the bed, watching as Damien flinched, putting his arm over Cody’s back protectively and holding him to his chest. “What did you tell him to try and make this alright?”

“I didn’t tell him anything,” Damien insisted, voice growing firm as he caught on to what Ted was insinuating. “He told me he didn’t want to spend the night alone, he took his shirt off all by himself, and all we did together was watch -”

Rustling in the covers informed both of them that Cody was waking up, likely thanks to their noise. “Hey there,” Damien said quietly, his tone switching from stern to sweet as he rubbed Cody’s back. “Ted’s here and it’s probably time to get up anyway.”

“He doesn’t have classes today,” Ted corrected him, looking from Damien with disgust to a bleary-eyed Cody who was just managing to sit up. “Co - Stardust, what the hell, man? What happened?”

“Wanted companionship,” Cody mumbled, arching his back to stretch it out. “You told me you had to study with the long-haired Scottish one, so I came here like you told me to. With Damien.”

Damien at least had the decency to look sheepish at the mention of his name.

“I… I have to take a breather,” Ted said, feeling dizzy for some reason. “I’m gonna go to breakfast.” He looked at Damien, trying to calm himself but probably radiating frustration given how fast he could feel his heart racing. “He needs to take two of the red and white pills in the bottle here,” he instructed, pointing back at his desk where he knew the bottle stayed right next to his desk organizer.

Without saying goodbye, Ted left the room, not looking back and not sure if he ever wanted to return.

Despite Cody’s doctor saying that he would never be fit for a romantic relationship in the state he was in, something must have sparked between Damien and Cody that Ted didn’t see. Soon, all of Cody’s free time wasn’t spent watching superhero shows and movies with the Ascención brothers, but instead texting and spending time with his new boyfriend.

“He’s a senior,” Ted warned him one night as Cody came back from Damien’s apartment, face paint smudged on his cheeks and lips where Damien must have held his face and kissed him. “What happens after he graduates?”

“The center of my universe will always be there for me,” Cody replied simply, looking in the mirror at the muddied sections of his face, still pleased with himself. “My Damien may be gone from my physical sight, but he is forever mine.”

Ted shook his head. _It’s a lost cause,_ he told himself, getting up to get the washcloth to help Cody take what was left of his signature star off his face. At the end of the day, Cody still needed him, and he needed Cody around, really, for any normalcy at all.

Perhaps it was best that Cody got out more, though, had someone else to worry about him.

Sophomore year trucked on, Cody showing no signs of improvement but no slipping further into a downward spiral either, which pleased Dusty more than Ted knew the man would say. “That boyfriend’a Cody’th nice, Ted,” Dusty told Ted as the two of them were catching up on their way back from the gym. “Does a fine job of takin’ care of him.” Dusty probably didn’t realize how much that hurt to hear, but if Ted was in Dusty’s shoes, he supposed that he would be happy with any additional help he could with Cody get as well.

A week before graduation, what Ted had been afraid for and warning Cody of finally happened. Ted came back in from his last final of the year, confident that he crushed it, to find Cody in tears, curled up in the fetal position on Ted’s bed.

“T-T-Teddy,” Cody managed to say, before breaking into sobs again. “Teddy, it’s over. We’re over.”

The mix of betraying happiness and concern for his best friend completely overshadowed the fact that Cody hadn’t called him that in nearly a year. Ted dropped his bag at the door and moved to Cody’s side as he forced Cody to sit up, wiping his painted face and getting smudges of mixed black-and-gold muck on the back of his hands.

“It’s gonna be okay, it’s gonna be okay,” Ted told him soothingly, pulling Cody against his side and wiping his eyes again. “You’re smudging your face, c’mon now; it’s gonna be alright.” He didn’t want to hurt Cody further by asking exactly how it happened. The fact that it did was the only important matter.

“I’on’t care about my stupid face,” Cody said, sounding like a child as he ran a hand under his nose and sniffed, getting face paint on his own hands as well.

“Cody, Cody,” Ted whispered, throwing caution to the wind. “Cody, look at me.”

And when he did, it was like Ted’s heart was set aflame.

“Cody?” Ted asked tentatively, unable to believe in the new development just yet.

“Yeah?” Cody sniffled, wiping his face.

“I love you,” Ted said breathlessly. “You came back. You came home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a lot of love for Stardust/Cody Rhodes, as you can see. Apologies to the memory of Dusty Rhodes for writing his lisp/accent.


	4. Steph/Hunter/Shawn voyeurism, cuckolding (?), light BDSM

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When Neff asks for smutty fic, she gets 10,000 words of it.

“So what about that new guy on the Board of Trustees?” Hunter asked, turning over on his side to face Stephanie. “He’s a true southern gentleman, though he leans a little bit too heavy into otter territory -”

His wife wrinkled her nose and shuddered, pulling the covers further up to cover her chest. Hunter made a mental note to get up and turn the thermostat up in the bedroom later. “He’s got a mouth on him,” she cut in.

“All the better for sticking my cock in,” Hunter countered with a lecherous smirk. “C’mon, Steph, baby, you’ve got to let me have someone. I’m dying here.” When he saw the miffed look on her face, he pouted. “You know that you’re the love of my life, don’t be like that. I’m just a dog missing his bone, baby.”

“Horndog Hearst Helmsley looking for someone to bone, more like,” Steph teased, Hunter opening up his arms and pulling her in against his chest. “You’re ridiculous. Not right now; he just got to Ohio - so I’ve heard from Dad, anyway - and I wanna see a little more of this guy for myself before I let him near you.” She stroked his chest, looking up at him. “I love so much, Hunt.”

“I love you too, baby.” Hunter tucked her under his chin, kissing the top of her head. “Though I ‘member when you hated me.”

Stephanie slapped his chest lightly. “I never hated you. I just… thought you were below me was all. Like the MLB and the minor leagues or something.”

Hunter smirked. “And what about now?”

“Now you’re like the concessions stand at a major-league game,” she replied, laughing as Hunter muttered “why you little -” and squeezed her tighter. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding!”

“I know you are, boss-lady.” Hunter kissed her again. “And I thought you were pretty out of my league too, but in a good way.” 

* * *

How Hunter got stuck carrying _all_ of their luggage from the rental car to the hotel room, he didn’t know. That seemed to be the norm, though, when he was around Stephanie McMahon, director of University Relations. Being the provost and assistant chancellor (to Stephanie’s father Vince, nevertheless) himself, it made sense that the two of them would go to university administration seminars and conferences together, but it definitely didn’t make sense that the two of them had to share a hotel room.

“It’s economical, so Dad says,” Stephanie explained earlier as they walked in, Hunter regretting almost immediately not getting a trolley for everything. “Business trips cost money after all, Mr. Helmsley.”

That pissed Hunter off too. _Just fucking call me Hunter,_ he complained inside his head. She had no problem with him calling her by her first name, but all of a sudden there were rules of etiquette when it was the other way around. It didn’t help that Hunter had grown up around that shit. He was “Young Master Hunter”; Mr. Helmsley was his father.

“So the conference starts off tonight with dinner and opening speakers,” Stephanie said as she opened up the hotel room door and walked in herself first, completely ignoring how Hunter had to lunge forward to shove his foot in the door so he could follow. “I hope you’re not a vegetarian, because I put us down for two regular orders.” She turned to look at him as he flung the door open with his foot, his calf stinging with the stress.

“Believe me, I eat _plenty_ of meat,” he said with a grunt, dragging himself and their bags through the threshold. “Give me some help here, would you please?”

Stephanie shrugged as she reached forward to take her two suitcases, carrying them with ease while Hunter felt as if an anvil had been lifted from his arms. “All you had to do was ask.”

Hunter had to bite down an actual growl as he walked over to his queen-sized bed and dropped the suitcases on the covers. “You wearing that to the dinner?” he asked, not meaning anything malicious. He at least had to change out of his sneakers to something more formal before they headed downstairs.

“Why, do you have a problem with it?” she challenged, her eyes narrowing as she crossed her arms in a way that somehow managed to lift her breasts up to make cleavage.

Hunter gawked for a second before shaking his head and looking away. “Just a question,” he assured her, unzipping his suitcase to get his black oxfords out. “Let’s not make this week too painful for either of us, alright? I want to have a good time and actually get something out of this.”

If Stephanie had any reaction to that, Hunter didn’t see it as he was still looking down as she walked into the bathroom with her toiletry set. _Nice pair on her; shame she’s probably too frigid to let me get a better look,_ he grumbled. His friend Jesse told him he needed to get laid sooner rather than later, the way he was going. Supposedly all this pent-up aggression from work was making him a buzzkill in regards to his social life.

 _Whatever, there’ll be someone at the dinner you can sneak away,_ he reminded himself. Guy or girl, it didn’t really matter at this point so long as he used protection both ways. Before he’d taken on his new position at Ohio Valley University, Hunter had fancied himself a bit of a playboy, his money and family name enabling him to bed some of the most attractive people he thought he’d ever meet. Academic administrators were probably going to be a few steps lower on the totem pole, but it would do until he got more settled in.

“Dinner starts in fifteen minutes, let’s get a move on,” Stephanie called from the bathroom as she walked out, lipstick still in hand as she applied a fresh layer. “I want to get seats in the back so I can check my phone.”

Hunter sighed. In theory, Stephanie McMahon was perfect, but in practice, he had no idea how he was going to last the week with her, much less sharing a room.

“On my way, sweetheart,” he replied sardonically, getting up and picking up his own phone to put in his pocket. “Let’s go have dinner.” 

* * *

Dinner and the opening speakers were just as boring as Stephanie had assumed, even more so when she didn’t have Hunter under her thumb to boss around a little bit. It wasn’t that she hated the guy by any stretch of the imagination, but she was definitely starting to dislike him a little bit now, given that he was nowhere to be found.

 _I bet he’s headed back up to the room,_ she thought to herself, excusing herself from the table she shared with a couple of administrators from some elite liberal arts college in California before heading to the elevator to check and see where her dinner companion and colleague left to. _He didn’t even leave his business card at the table for the others… does he even understand how networking_ works _?_

Outside of her room door, she heard noises from the inside that she couldn’t place. _Probably skipped out to watch TV,_ Stephanie thought to herself, unlocking the door and throwing it open, prepared to give Hunter Hearst Helmsley a piece of her mind.

What she didn’t expect to see was Hunter’s fingers knuckle-deep in another man (likely from the conference as well) lying on _her_ bed. She also didn’t expect to recognize the recipient of the knuckles as well.

“ _Christian_?!” Stephanie blurted out, feeling herself go white with shock. “What are you doing in my room?!”

“What does it look like he’s doing?” Hunter retorted, crooking his hand in such a way that her very-embarrassed former classmate at Boston University arched off the blankets. “He’s getting prepped.”

Stephanie felt something inside of her stir as she watched Christian try and cover his face while Hunter leaned forward, continuing on with obviously no plans to stop. “Why do you have to do this on _my_ bed?” she asked weakly, unable to take her eyes off the scene in front of her.

“We can switch beds,” Hunter replied casually, taking his other hand to show some attention to Christian’s cock. “You’re free to stay if you want though, if you’re enjoying the view.”

The look that Hunter shot her next seemed to bore right through her to her very core, seeing that she was initially going to leave out of politeness (and, honestly, out of ‘what the fuck’-ness) but now that she was apparently welcome, she had no plans of stopping her staring either.

“You can offer tips, too,” Hunter offered, blatantly trying to sweeten the deal as he removed his fingers from Christian’s ass to undo his belt. “I know how much you like giving orders.”

 _Well, anything’s better than what’s going on downstairs,_ Steph thought to herself as she watched Hunter pull out his dick and felt herself growing wetter between her legs. She walked past the two men to sit on the edge of what was now her new bed, taking off her shoes as she went. “At least give that hair a little pull, Mr. Helmsley,” she remarked with a mischievous smile, hearing Christian whimper as Hunter did just that, one hand tugging upward while the other lined his dick up at Christian’s hole.

 _He’s good at taking orders,_ she mused. Outwardly, she leaned back on her elbows on the bed, giving Hunter an approving nod.

“Good boy.”

* * *

When Christian left, Hunter shut the door after him, thanking him for his time as genially as possible, before turning back to Stephanie. “So,” he started, grabbing a towel from the rack as he passed by the bathroom for modesty’s sake (though it was unnecessary at that point). “You knew him?”

“We went to college together,” she replied nonchalantly, sitting back up on the bed where she had been resting and looking on from her elbows. “He dated a friend of mine, Adam, for a bit. I didn’t know he was here.”

“Oh, where’d you go to college?” Hunter asked, expecting an Ivy like himself.

“Boston University.”

“Not an Ivy Leaguer?” Hunter raised an eyebrow, walking past her to his suitcase on the other side of the bed. “Would’ve pegged you for Brown or something. Princeton, maybe.”

“Not Yale?” Stephanie quirked an eyebrow of her own, Hunter noting that they mirrored each other almost perfectly.

Hunter smirked. “ _I_ went to Yale. I would’ve seen you there.”

“Ah.” Stephanie shrugged, getting up off the bed as Hunter unzipped his suitcase to get fresh underwear. “Well, I’m going to go shower. Watching the two of you tired me out.”

“Hey-hey-hey.” Hunter grabbed his underwear and moved toward the bathroom quickly. “I’m the one who has someone else’s spunk on their body. You’re just hot and bothered from watchin’ all that.” He waved the hand holding the pair of boxer briefs up and down her body. “You can wait, I won’t be long.”

Stephanie grinned and unbuttoned her blazer slowly, keeping her eyes on Hunter, who actually felt himself shrinking under her gaze. “How about we cut out the middleman and share the shower? It’s big enough for two.” She stepped closer, shrugging the blazer off onto the bed carelessly and turning around so Hunter was faced with the zipper of her dress. “We’d be saving water _and_ time.”

Hunter smirked, feeling his cock twitch as he imagined what his boss’s daughter and colleague looked like without a thread of clothing on. “I don’t know, Steph,” he told her coyly, taking hold of the zipper but keeping his hand still at the nape of her neck, “I think we have plenty of time to spare.” 

* * *

The two of them laid in bed, freshly showered and fucked (Stephanie pressed against the shower wall, since she demanded nothing less), Stephanie curled up comfortably against Hunter’s chest after he carried her out of the bathroom bridal-style and placed her in bed. “That was… better than I expected,” she murmured, keeping her head down as Hunter tucked her hair behind her ear.

“You expected something bad after you saw Christian and I?” Hunter pouted, looking like a little boy rather than the fully-grown (in more ways than one) man he really was. “I’m hurt, Stephanie. I really am.”

“Hush,” Stephanie chided, stroking Hunter’s chest. She’d never felt this at peace with someone, male or female, and even though she’d known Hunter for about a month now, it was only now that she started to see him as something of a kindred spirit. “You were amazing, but especially so with me. Though you do take orders very well.”

“Until I find out what Christian thought of our time together, I’ll take that compliment at face value,” Hunter replied, looking down at Stephanie with a soft smile that made her wondering if they were thinking the same thing. “You wanna stay here like this for the night? I don’t mind.”

Stephanie looked back up and smiled back, pulling the covers up over her shoulders with her free hand and dipping her head back down. “I’ll stay here if you keep holding me.”

Hunter clucked his tongue teasingly, Stephanie glad that her head was down so he couldn’t see her turning red at his reaction. “So _bossy_ ,” he admonished lightly, Steph feeling him kiss the top of her head without regard for her hair still being damp from the shower. “I’ll keep holding you if you meet _my_ one demand, though.”

She looked up, surprised that he would think to get something in return for something as trivial as just staying where they were now. “And that would be?”

“You can start calling me Hunter. Mr. Helmsley’s a little formal for the guy you just fucked in a hotel bathroom, no?” Hunter chucked under her chin lightly, winking conspiratorially.

“That sounds easy enough… Hunter,” she agreed, kissing him on the lips lightly. “But right now I think it’d be best if the two of us went to bed. Long day ahead of us, and I want to be out of the room in time to get breakfast.” Steph knew she wasn’t going to be able to relinquish complete control over her colleague, regardless of whether or not he was technically her superior in the grand scheme of things.

Hunter just chuckled, a warm belly laugh that made Stephanie herself grin. “Yes, ma’am.” 

* * *

Hunter walked into the boardroom with Steph, hand sitting at the small of her back as they went to the second full administration meeting of the semester. _And hopefully the last,_ Hunter thought as his wife left his side to go sit across the table from him, waiting for the meeting to begin. They weren’t the last ones to arrive by a long shot - Vince seemed to make it a point to arrive five minutes late just to show that the university primarily revolved around him, so no one was in a particular hurry - but there were a handful of deans and other faculty already settled in their typical places in the room.

Including one Trustee Shawn Michaels, who had the pleasure of being seated directly to Hunter’s right.

Shawn was one of those guys that once Hunter got a good look at him, he just _knew_ he had to have him. Maybe it was the fast talking or his smile that always seemed to rile Stephanie up when they were directed to her for whatever reason, but he also figured that a good part of his attraction to the other man was that body of his. Especially that ass. Hunter hated to see Shawn go, but he loved to watch him leave.

“Afternoon, Hunter,” Shawn greeted him with a tip of his cream-colored cowboy hat, taking it off and placing it on the table in front of him as he sat down. “Stephanie,” he nodded in way of a greeting to Hunter’s wife. “You’re looking especially nice today, but a little cold.”

“‘Cold’?” Stephanie repeated, narrowing her eyes a little bit in confusion.

“Yeah, positively _frigid_.” Hunter had to hold in a gasp, instead opting to raise his eyebrows and lean back in his chair, ready to tamp down a potential patented McMahon Tantrum if necessary. _Don’t kill him, Steph, please._

Stephanie pursed her lips, obviously biting her tongue as her father walked in, the entire room rising to greet him. Stephanie got her usual hug, while the rest of the room got handshakes of some sort, some of the especially close individuals getting a couple polite slaps on the back, Hunter included.

The meeting started off with the usual droning on and on about how Ohio Valley University was an academic institution and one of the premier research universities in the midwest, and Hunter found himself bored, which was also usual for the beginning of meetings. _Couldn’t hurt to have a little fun,_ he thought to himself, glancing under the table to gauge just how far away he was from Shawn. Not far at all, unsurprisingly.

He shot a daring look across the table to Steph, who caught his eye and pursed her lips again in disapproval, already one step ahead of Hunter’s thinking. He _had_ been making mentions of how hot it would be to sneak something in while they were in the boardroom, but apparently Stephanie too was aware that the hotness of that event extended to himself with either sex.

 _I’m gonna be in deep shit later,_ he thought to himself as he did it anyway, moving his right hand to the top of Shawn’s thigh, watching the way the other man clenched his ass instinctively and bounced slightly in his seat, giving Hunter a scrutinizing look but saying nothing, and more importantly, not removing Hunter’s hand from his thigh.

Hunter raised his eyebrows slightly as Stephanie fumed, now entirely aware that Hunter was going on without her approval. He almost felt bad, but sliding his hand from the top of Shawn’s thigh to the inside seemed to quell that guilty feeling fast. Punishment was a problem for future-Hunter.

Shawn opened up his legs wider, pleasing Hunter even more. He had to know that Hunter was married to Stephanie, and the fact that he didn’t care that the man’s wife was literally sitting less than five feet in front of him just made Hunter harder for some reason. Hunter dipped his hand down further, the tips of his fingers just skimming the seat of Shawn’s chair as he leaned forward in his own chair slightly to accommodate his new position.

All of a sudden, Vince spoke up, turning to look at Hunter dead-on. “Mr. Helmsley, what do you think of this proposition?”

“I-I think it’s a great idea,” Hunter replied quickly, sitting up straight and removing his hand from Shawn entirely. “It sounds economically feasible.”

“To _cut funding_ from University Relations?” Stephanie spoke up, now absolutely seething with rage. _Fuck my fucking life._ Hunter winced. Well, he wasn’t a man to go back on his word, so it was time to turn chicken shit into chicken salad.

“How much are we talking again? Percent-wise?” Hunter looked to the bursar, hoping that he had more information to save Hunter’s ass.

“Fifteen percent at the very least.”

He could work with that. “Well, that’s not so bad - no one has to lose their job or get punished -” he eyed Stephanie in particular - “over that. Maybe just streamlining the website, cutting advertisements in publications, things like that. But just the minimum amount.”

Vince nodded. “That sounds reasonable. Stephanie, you think you can work with that?” Hunter watched as his father-in-law turned to his wife for final approval.

Stephanie pursed her lips again - and boy, if that wasn’t a very clear indication that Hunter was in the doghouse later tonight - and nodded. “I can make it work.”

Hunter just looked out of the corner of his eye at Shawn, who returned the glance almost immediately, a small smile lifting the corners of his lips. Not a moment after, Stephanie cleared her throat, making Hunter swing his eyes back to face forward, this time genuinely feeling guilty.

_I am so fucked tonight._

* * *

“Thank you, dear,” Stephanie said warmly as Hunter carefully handed her her nightly cup of chamomile tea. She leaned up and kissed his cheek, smiling as he kissed her back gently. “Those marks on your thighs are clearing up nicely.”

“I told you that crop was a good choice,” Hunter replied, taking care to join her in bed without disturbing the aforementioned area. “We needed to expand the drawer anyway. Can’t go wrong with one of the classics.”

Stephanie smirked. “The perfect punishment for a purebred preppy boy like you.” She reached over and tousled his long blond hair. She loved Hunter more than anything, but honestly, his fascination with that trustee Michaels bothered her on a level she couldn’t explain. At the very heart of things, she was worried that she wasn’t providing enough for her husband at home.

Hunter put his head on her shoulder, watching her take a small sip of her tea. Perfectly brewed, as usual. “You know who else would look real nice with red marks up and down his back?” he asked, tilting his head to nip at Steph’s earlobe. “Mr. Shawn Michaels.”

Steph clucked her tongue. “What is your _thing_ with him? He’s attractive, sure, but he probably has a partner of his own, babe.” She stroked his hair as she spoke. “We can always call Jesse and Bill up if you’re craving fresh meat that much.”

“They’re not new, though. Michaels is _new_ -new. Plus, even though I know you’re not too pleased with me for what happened today, he had no problem with me getting a little handsy with the inside of his thigh.”

“ _Still_ , Hunter.” Steph sighed, knowing that this was not going to be an easily-won argument if she persisted. Sometimes “no” was not really a “convince me”. _Besides,_ she thought to herself, _if Hunter really likes him this much, I can make it through one night._

“Fine, fine.” She turned her head to kiss Hunter on the lips, making it deeper once he returned the affection. “You’ve been such a good boy lately; I suppose this is the least I can do.” Steph couldn’t help but smile back when she saw the absolutely adorable smile that Hunter gave her once she’d caved.

Hunter took his head off of her shoulder, resting it back on his pillow and relaxing his entire body. “I’m the _best_ boy,” he corrected her, making Steph snort, putting down her tea on the side table before snuggling down into the covers herself, pulling Hunter’s arm around her.

“Don’t push it,” she mumbled, kissing the closest part of Hunter’s body she can reach to reassure him. “I just hope this won’t be wasting our time.” 

* * *

One of the many things that Hunter learned from his wife was that it was pretty much always imperative to have a game plan when something serious was going down. If Hunter didn’t devise one himself, it was pretty much a given that Stephanie would take charge and handle it herself. In this case, though, it was probably better than he took care of business.

He figured he’d start with getting the atmosphere set up first and foremost. If Shawn ended up  being a no-show for whatever reason, at least he and Steph would get a good dinner out of it. Hunter refused to get up to trouble on an empty stomach, and if he was going to invite someone into his home for a one-night stand, the least he could do is feed the guy first.

“You think if we swing by and pick up a rotisserie chicken on the way home from work it’ll be fine for the three of us for dinner?” Hunter asked, looking up from where he was at the desk in their bedroom, making a checklist. “Chicken… I can sauté green beans and do mashed potatoes to go along with it.”

“As much as I enjoy your cooking, I think we can buy the whole meal beforehand,” Stephanie suggested, taking off her heels before putting them up in the closet rack. “You said you were going to take care of this yourself, but you keep asking my opinion.”

“You’re going to be involved too, y’know,” Hunter reminded her, waving his pen in her general direction. “You always are, whether you admit it or not.”

Steph just smirked and walked toward the desk, turning around to have Hunter unzip her dress. “I know,” she replied, shrugging her dress off around the shoulders as Hunter pulled the zipper down her back. “But you said you wanted to take care of this one yourself, and I’m letting you take the reins.”

Hunter tugged on the bottom of the dress gently, letting the garment slip off her into his hands, waiting for her to step out of it. “It’s nice to see you give up some control every now and then. You work too hard.”

“Says only you,” Steph countered, stepping out of the dress and taking it from Hunter’s waiting hands. “I could probably get a couple more projects done this week if I put my mind to it, but I’m giving myself a breather.”

“For once,” Hunter shot back, keeping his tone light. “But this isn’t the same thing as your job. Got any ideas?”

“You, in that black thong I bought you the other week, with whipped cream.” Stephanie hung up the dress and moved it to the “worn” side of her closet to be dry-cleaned. “Wait, we’re not talking about tonight, are we?”

“You’re impossible.” Hunter got up from the desk, going over and wrapping his arms around her waist. Honestly, how he managed to marry someone like Stephanie he’d never figure out, but he was damn glad that he did. “I want to wear men’s underwear then; keep at least some sense of vanilla. You can wear whatever you want, of course, but I’m going to be boring.” He kissed the side of her neck, running one of the hands around her down from her waist to the bottom of her stomach, stopping at the top of her underwear. “Maybe I’ll be a good sport and let you have him first, if he’d like. Once you finish with him, he can get started with me.”

“Now, now, baby,” Stephanie told him, turning around in his arms so the hand that was resting on her stomach was now at the small of her back. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the bedroom door moved slightly as the last and tiniest member of the household sauntered in. Steph quickly kissed Hunter on the lips before untangling herself from his arms so she could go pick up the cat. “Mommy’s fluffy baby came in to say hi, huh?”

“I thought _I_ was your fluffy baby,” Hunter joked, going back to the desk to close the notepad he was writing in, bookmarking it with the pen inside.

Stephanie gave him a doting look, cradling their cat up on her shoulder. “You’re my good boy. Simba’s my fluffy baby.”

Simba was what Hunter had named their Maine Coon kitten they had adopted about two years prior, convinced that the little guy was going to remain a little furball for the rest of his life. Of course, that meant that he had to have picked the one species of cat that a baby could ride into battle on, excess fur only making him look larger.

“Only two years old and he’s the size of a toddler,” Hunter mused aloud, going over and stroking Simba’s head, switching to light scratches as the cat leaned into his touch. “I’m gonna go make dinner. Lasagna sound good?”

Steph nodded and kissed the top of Simba’s head after Hunter moved his hand away. Hunter couldn’t decide what was more adorable: Stephanie, Simba, or the two of them together. “Sounds good. Remember to put on your list of things to ask Shawn if he’s allergic to cats.”

Hunter smiled and kissed Steph’s cheek. “That’s one hell of a deal breaker for the guy, but will do.”

* * *

Shawn sighed as he left the Dunn Administration Building Friday afternoon. He’d only been in Ohio for three months but it was already pretty dull around here. He hadn’t expected loads of excitement in suburban Ohio of all places, but he figured that the change of pace would’ve done some more good than it currently was… especially considering what he had given up.

He thought about Marty as he took his keys out of his pocket, trying to remember where he’d parked the truck at the same time. Marty had been downright _furious_ when Shawn told him that he needed to go somewhere new, experience new things, and he’d gotten a job as a fucking trustee at some school in Ohio, so pack up the truck, sweetheart. His partner of six years started bitching about forewarning and “why do you always need to go? Aren’t you happy here with me?”

Marty probably wasn’t looking for the honest answer he got, but there it was, and there he was, alone. Some of Shawn’s many dumb-as-fuck habits that he had included being blunt, ambitious, and honest to a fault.

“Shawn!” He turned around to see Hunter Helmsley, provost and assistant chancellor, chasing him across the parking lot. “Man, am I glad I caught you.”

Shawn wrinkled his nose. He was fond of the man (especially the feeling of his hands), but Shawn couldn’t think of a reason Hunter would be tracking him down after working hours.

“I, uh… Stephanie and I wanted to invite you over for dinner tonight at our house.” Hunter seemed nervous asking, but pressed on anyway. “Nothing fancy, and I know it’s short notice, but I just wanted to ask.”

 _Well, this is unexpected._ Shawn scuffed his boot against the pavement, looking at his feet for a second before meeting Hunter’s eyes. “Well, I’m not busy tonight. Sure, why not.” He smiled at the other man whose face lit up much brighter than his own. “You got an address I can plug into my phone?”

“Yeah,” Hunter replied, reaching in his pocket to grab a pen and one of his business cards - and Shawn was surprised, because while he struck Hunter for a businessman, he didn’t think the man was at _that_ level - to write his home address on the back. “It’s big, you can’t miss it.”

“I’ll bet,” Shawn chuckled, taking the card and pocketing it himself after Hunter handed it over.

“You, uh… you got a plus-one that we’d need to account for? With the food and all - oh, and are you allergic to cats?” Hunter added quickly.

Shawn shook his head no, hoping that he didn’t look more pitiful doing that than he already was. “Partner an’ I  split before I moved up here; s’just me. And no, not allergic.”

Hunter looked sympathetic, his lower lip jutting ever so slightly forward in a way that made Shawn wonder exactly how they would feel against his. _Stop it,_ he scolded himself. _Dude’s married and you’re being ridiculous._

“Well, Steph and I will take good care of you, don’t you worry,” Hunter assured him, patting him on the shoulder before rubbing the spot he had just patted softly.

Shawn smiled softly. Maybe the two of them were better people than he’d initially given them credit for. “‘Round what time should I come over?”

“We’ll have dinner on the table by six-thirty.” Shawn nodded his thanks for the invitation and goodbye as Hunter did the same, turning to keep walking in the direction he thought he parked his truck.

Maybe Ohio wasn’t so boring after all. 

* * *

Hunter checked himself over in the mirror again at 6:20 PM. He knew he didn’t look bad - and besides, it was what he looked like naked that mattered the most tonight - but the idea of inviting someone he hadn’t really talked to much into his home was still a little intimidating, appearance-wise. Steph looked flawless, as usual, and was finishing up the dinner setting while Hunter dithered about in the bedroom.

“I think there’s a truck pulling up in the driveway, babe!” Stephanie called from the foyer where Hunter assumed she was peeking through the curtains. “Get your pants on and get in here!”

“My pants are on!” Hunter yelled back, hurrying to adjust his belt as he ran into the front room. “Is my hair okay? How’s my hair?”

Steph stroked it gently, smiling. “Beautiful as ever. I’m gonna go pretend I wasn’t in here and you make him feel welcome, okay?”

“But not too welcome, right? No blowing him in the hallway.” Hunter grinned as Stephanie smacked his arm. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding, go on.”

“I was never here,” Stephanie repeated, hurrying back to the dining room. “Be a good host!”

“I'm always a good host,” Hunter insisted, swinging open the door as Shawn made his way up from the driveway to the front door. “Just in time. Dinner’s about to be on the table.” Shawn nodded and smiled, extending a hand to shake Hunter’s before going to step from the hardwood entryway to the carpet.

“Oh, uh - could you take your shoes off where you are right now? Steph’s just had the carpet’s done and better safe than sorry, y’know,” Hunter explained sheepishly, gesturing down at his own sock-covered feet. “She won’t yell at you but I know I’ll hear about it later.”

Shawn waved a hand his way, the other taking off his boots carefully, keeping his distance from the edge of the carpet. “No problem, I know the feeling.”

Hunter watched as slender yet sturdy fingers dipped into the back of the boot, creating room for Shawn to slide his feet out as he placed both boots by the door, next to a pair of Stephanie’s running shoes. For some reason, the little lineup looked like it belonged right where it was.

He was still watching the shoes when Shawn stood back up and clapped him on the arm. “It’s a good thing I came just in time,” Shawn proclaimed, “‘cause I’m starving.”

The two of them walked the short distance from the foyer to the kitchen and dining room area, Stephanie bringing the dish of sautéed green beans (because Hunter had insisted) to the table as they arrived. “Oh, shoes off, I should have mentioned that -” Stephanie started to say before Shawn pointed at his bootless feet.

“Got it already.”

“Oh.” Stephanie looked surprised for a second, looking to Shawn’s feet before smiling at Hunter thankfully. “Good.”

* * *

Stephanie wasn’t exactly sure how to broach the subject of what Hunter (and herself, admittedly - she was warming up to the idea more and more as the three of them talked and ate) wanted tonight to go like. At the end of the day, Hunter had a lot of machismo but wasn’t all that great with words. “I let my pecs and astonishingly good looks do the talking,” he had explained to her one night when she asked why he never really flirted with someone before they got down to business. “Anything else is just filler.”

“So, Shawn,” Stephanie began, testing the waters. “Hunter tells me that you’re newly single?”

“Yeah,” the man said almost apologetically, some of the strands from his ponytail falling forward into his face as he ducked his head. “We - Marty, my partner and I - just wanted different things in the end.”

“It happens,” she replied sympathetically, making a mental note that “partner” was often a term used for same-sex relationships. If Shawn was primarily into guys, then that was great for Hunter at least. If he preferred either or, that would be even better.

“But I’m all moved in now to my new apartment, and honestly I’m looking forward to getting back into the dating game,” Shawn continued hopefully, looking between Hunter and Steph, who couldn’t help but exchange a look with her husband.

 _Well, it’s now or never,_ she thought. _If I don’t go for it, it’ll be a cold day in hell when Hunter does._

Steph looked back to Shawn, trying to keep her face expressionless as she speared a piece of roast chicken while maintaining eye contact. “Why not just do hookups for a while?” she asked innocently. “There’s no need to rush into a relationship so soon when you can just play the field a while.”

Shawn looked a little stunned as Stephanie ate the chicken on her fork with the same casualness with which she had just spoke. _Little surprised that that came out of_ my _mouth,_ she presumed as Shawn then looked to Hunter, who, to his credit, shrugged in agreement with Steph. After all, that was what he’d been doing when he and Stephanie got together. It was only when they were engaged did the new encounters become a rarity in the relationship.

“I, uh… do you think that’s safe?” Shawn asked hesitantly. “Multiple partners increases the risk of infections and all, plus all of that other stuff -”

“Well,” Stephanie cut in, putting her fork down on her plate gently, pushing her plate slightly forward, “I can assure you that if you were to be with Hunter and I, we’re both perfectly clean, no strings attached.”

Shawn nearly dropped his own fork, looking at Hunter who was probably thanking the heavens for Stephanie’s conversational skills, if she knew her own husband. “I - _what_?”

“She’s better at talking than I am,” Hunter replied, choosing to ignore Shawn’s disbelief in favor of pursuing his lay for the evening. “So I’m just gonna come out with it straight. We invited you here for dinner, yes, but we - me in particular - were hoping that you would be interested in spending the night.”

“Like a sleepover,” Steph heard herself chime in, ignoring how incredibly juvenile that term sounded. “Except more along the lines of a one-night stand.”

All Shawn could do was chuckle uneasily at that point, apparently. “S’that why you asked if I was single?”

“And allergic to cats. Our cat Simba tends to make himself at home on our comforter and we can’t really control where the fur flies.” Hunter pushed away his own plate, reaching across the table to pick Stephanie’s up as well to carry them into the kitchen.

“So, what do you say?” Stephanie clasped her hands on the table in a manner more fit for closing a business deal rather than establishing a contract of casual sex, giving Hunter a thankful smile when he took her plate out from in front of her. “You can say no, of course. We’re not trying to coerce you into anything.”

Shawn looked down at the table for a moment, probably weighing the options over in his head. Stephanie couldn’t blame him for being so cautious of such an offer, though she had to admit that sleeping with her and Hunter posed little-to-no risks for the other person(s) and typically came with breakfast the following morning. She watched as he pursed his lips before breaking into a smirk and looking up at Stephanie.

“What the hell,” he said cheerfully, turning to meet Hunter’s gaze as he peeked his head out of the kitchen. “Let’s fuck.” 

* * *

_What the fuck have I gotten myself into,_ Shawn wondered to himself as Hunter pulled him enthusiastically into his and Stephanie’s master bedroom after the three of them had finished clearing the dinner table. He’d hooked up with people before, sure, but never two people at the same time, never an established couple, and certainly no one quite like the likes of Stephanie McMahon and Hunter Helmsley.

“Now, Hunter, don’t scare him off with your excitement,” Stephanie said in a reproachful tone, smoothing Hunter’s hair back with a hand as she walked past the two of them to their walk-in - because of course it had to be a fucking walk-in - closet. “You’re getting ahead of yourself.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Hunter replied dutifully, loosening his hold on Shawn’s hand to the point where he was almost letting go.

Shawn tried to contain himself even more than he currently had been doing at Hunter’s reaction. Hunter had never struck him as being the pussy-whipped type, but now that he was looking back at it, the signs were definitely there. And, if he was being honest, he could see the appeal. Stephanie was one hell of a woman.

“Is it alright if I kiss you?” Hunter asked softly, his mouth close to Shawn’s ear in a way that sent shivers down his spine with the proximity and tenderness. “Been looking forward to this for weeks now.”

“Yeah, sure,” Shawn said, taken slightly aback when Hunter moved the hand holding Shawn’s to Shawn’s lower back, holding him as he initiated the kiss. The kiss was just as soft as Hunter’s question had been, and the way he was being held made him feel a little fragile, like he was some special thing that needed to be carefully looked after. He returned the kiss in a second’s time, moving his own arms around Hunter’s shoulders to balance things out. At that moment in time, it was like he and Hunter were the only two people in the room.

Of course, that wasn’t really the case, as Hunter reminded him with a yelp into his mouth that startled them apart. “Starting the fun without me?” Stephanie asked, now clad in lingerie rather than the sheath dress she’d been wearing just before. “You’re lucky I don’t want to punish you in front of Shawn here.”

 _Punish_ Hunter? Now things were heating up in an especially interesting way.

“Maybe I want you to,” Hunter countered with a cheeky grin, still smiling after Stephanie planted a light slap on Hunter’s cheek for the backtalk. “After all, maybe we can get Shawn to try some new things.”

“I don’t think these ‘things’ of yours will be as new to me as you think, Hunt,” Shawn replied with a cheeky grin of his own, turning his attention to Stephanie. “And look at you… is all this for me, or do you get this dolled up every night?”

If Shawn didn’t know better, he’d think that the look Stephanie gave him for that comment was absolute disgust. “Now, Steph, baby,” Hunter reminded her gently, arm still around Shawn, “if that was directed to _me_ , you would’ve been all over it.”

“To make property of a man is to grant him liberties, Hunter,” his wife replied evenly, turning on her heel to go to the dresser on the other side of the room. “To make property of a woman is to take hers away.” Steph bent over to open and reach into one of the drawers, Shawn unable to take his eyes off her ass. “I think we’re going to need something a little different than the crop for you tonight, babe.”

Shawn raised his eyebrows as Hunter chuckled, using the hand still at the small of Shawn’s back to pull him against him. “Best to stay on her good side,” he warned him gently. “Now what do you say about stripping down so we can get down to business?”

“Sounds good to me,” Shawn replied, pushing his hips forward to brush his and Hunter’s dicks together. “You wanna do the honors, big guy?”

Hunter was practically salivating, letting go of Shawn to free his hands so he could take off Shawn’s clothes. “I’m gonna work from the top down,” Hunter thought aloud, carefully unbuttoning Shawn’s shirt, button by button, before letting it slip off Shawn’s shoulders and fall to the floor. Thankfully, Shawn wasn’t a fan of wearing more layers than absolutely necessary, and Hunter had him down to his socks in no time flat.

“He’s a fast worker,” Stephanie said proudly from where she was perched on the bed, holding and turning something over and over in her hands. “Come over to the bed, baby. We have to get you all set up before we can start the fun.”

Hunter nodded from where he was kneeling on the floor after shuffling Shawn’s pants off, pressing a kiss to Shawn’s inner thigh before standing up again. Admittedly, Shawn was a little overwhelmed, only noticing that he was half-hard already once he felt Hunter’s mouth on him. By the time he looked up from his own dick, Hunter was already on all fours on the bed, Stephanie whispering in his ear as her hands worked just out of his view on Hunter’s crotch.

“Um…” he started to say anxiously, turning his head to try and get a better look at what the two of them were doing.

“Shawn, Hunter would like to know if you’d like to do the honors of putting in his plug?” Stephanie held up the shiny metal toy that she had been fidgeting with minutes before. “He’d like you to help me get him ready, if you please.”

Shawn looked from the toy to Hunter’s waiting hole and back, before walking over to the bed and taking the anal plug from Stephanie’s waiting hand. “You sure, Hunter?” he asked, figuring it couldn’t hurt to make sure and be a little more present in the moment, at least.

Hunter nodded before Stephanie rubbed his shoulder - probably a reminder as he used his words to add “yes, please.”

“There’s a good boy, baby,” Stephanie cooed sweetly, stroking Hunter’s hair tenderly while gesturing to Shawn with a cock of her head to go on and put it in. Shawn entered the toy into the other man slowly, taking care not to stretch him too fast, but it seemed that Hunter was ready enough already for the rest of the toy to slide into his ass right down to the flared base with nothing more than a breathy moan. “Good boy, Hunter,” Stephanie repeated, rubbing Hunter’s side as he rolled over onto his back, Shawn finally getting a good look at Hunter’s hard cock, now adorned with a metal ring around the base.

“I wanted to make sure he’d last for the both of us,” Stephanie explained, getting up from the bed to get closer to Shawn, her eyes roaming up and down his body. “You’re bigger than I thought you’d be, but I’m sure we have something for you, if you’re interested.”

He pondered it for a second, the wholeness that Hunter obviously felt looking pretty damn appealing at that moment. However, he’d been on the wrong side of a belt too many times than he could remember, and that wasn’t exactly the type of memory that he wanted to dredge up if he didn’t need to. “I think I’ll pass,” Shawn replied casually, smiling at Stephanie lightly before sitting on the side of the bed.

“You sure?” Stephanie asked, walking past him to the drawer again, taking out another cock ring of similar size to Hunter’s but silicone instead. “This one vibrates.”

“It’s… _really_ good,” Hunter added from where he was still lying on the bed, looking at Shawn with sultry eyes. “If I didn’t know for a fact that I’m gonna make you come, that’d definitely do the trick.”

“He speaks from experience,” Stephanie said, turning on the ring and smiling as it started vibrating in her hand, holding it out just like she had done with Hunter’s plug. “C’mon, Shawn. Treat yourself.” 

* * *

Stephanie had learned from a young age that she was pretty good at making people do what she wanted and having it sound like they wanted to do it all by themselves. Hunter - who had long seen through the facade by now but, according to him, “willingly” fell for it - assured her that she typically used her powers for good, but there were some circumstances in which she felt that she had to check herself just in case.

So when Shawn took the still-vibrating cock ring out of her hand tentatively, she felt compelled to make sure. “You can say no, Shawn,” she reminded him, ignoring the look on Hunter’s face that was practically begging her to shush so they could keep going. “If you don’t like anything that’s going on, you can just say no.”

“Nah,” Shawn said, looking down at the cock ring as he tried to steady his dick into it. Stephanie couldn’t help but bite back a chuckle when she saw him bite his lower lip in concentration. “I’ve just… never used something like this before.” He looked up at her, cheeks pink. “It goes all the way back to my balls?”

“Yep,” Stephanie said, running a hand down Hunter’s thigh as she walked back to the bed, kneeling next to Hunter and stroking his dick slowly as Shawn got on the bed on the other side. “You want me to help you out?”

Shawn nodded and Steph beckoned him closer with a hand, her other hand still around Hunter as she pushed the cock ring to where it needed to be effortlessly. “Multitasking,” she said with a grin, enjoying the full-body shudder that overtook Shawn’s entire body. That particular cock ring had that effect on the user in question.

“H-holy _shit_ ,” Shawn choked out, rocking back to rest his ass on the balls of his feet, taking soft and slow breaths through his mouth. “Holy fuckin’ shit.”

“Language,” Hunter chastised gently, thighs clenching and unclenching in a way that had Steph wishing that it was her that was making Hunter’s body move that way. _In due time,_ she reminded herself. _Gotta get ready first._

Stephanie moved her hand from Hunter, lightly pushing him further to one side of the bed so Shawn could move and lie down as well. “I think we need to find something better for that mouth to do, huh, babe?” She shot Hunter a sly look, smile only growing wider when she knew he realized what she was doing.

“Yeah,” Hunter agreed, flipping over on his side to watch the two of them.

“You can stay where you are, Shawn,” Steph directed him, going and straddling Shawn’s chest before moving her panties to one side. Thankfully, the rest of her lingerie stayed in place. “That tongue has a better use now, don’t you think?” Shawn nodded eagerly, reaching to grip her thighs on either side and pull her up to his mouth. “Mm, easy there,” she said, steadying herself as Shawn began to caress the area around her clit with his tongue. “No biting.”

She heard Hunter snort next to her as she closed her eyes, letting her hips ride his mouth slowly, building into a rhythm. “He’s not gonna _bite_ you.”

Steph hummed in pleasure and rocked her hips up slowly. “You never know,” she replied before making a soft noise as Shawn sucked her clit into his mouth. “Jesus _Christ_.”

Hunter sat up and kissed the side of Steph’s neck, mumbling into the side of her neck. “Good choice, huh?” he asked, the amusement obvious in his voice. Steph nodded in agreement, worrying her lower lip between her teeth.

“Totally,” she agreed, wobbling a little in place as she and Shawn both pressed on, Hunter still looking on. “Looks like I’ve got myself _two_ good boys.” 

* * *

Hunter was already hard from the moment that Steph had the cock ring on him (and even harder when Shawn got his ass set up), but on top of all that, watching Shawn’s mouth work its magic on Stephanie was making him physically throb.

“You gotta let me know when you think you’re ready, baby,” he reminded his wife, giving himself a few testing strokes to see just how far along he was. “I want to join in on all this too.”

“Don’t - ah- _ah_ \- worry,” Steph replied, pushing her hair back from her face, her toes curling in on themselves. “You’ll get your time too… oh, fuck. You know what we should do?” she asked, her voice heavy with pleasure. “You, Shawn - no, don’t stop. Keep going, yeah - you should fuck Hunter, right? And I’ll ride him while you’re doing that.” She looked at Hunter, seeing how he was going to (pun intended) take it.

Most of the time, Stephanie had good ideas. On occasion, though, they were the _best_. “Fuck, babe,” he said, pumping his own dick harder. “Now you’re gonna keep me waiting for that?” He cast an eye over to Shawn’s cock, red and bouncing against his stomach from the vibrations of the cock ring. “Maybe we can get you started on him, all nice and wet.”

Steph bit her lip in contemplation, slowly lifting herself up from Shawn’s face as Shawn managed to get in a few more darts of the tongue before she was completely above. “I don’t think I’m gonna have you wait any longer,” she decided, sitting down fully on Shawn’s chest, her wetness leaving a leftover mark as she moved off his body entirely. “The sooner you lie back down, Hunt, the better.”

Hunter watched as Shawn sat up and Stephanie reached into the bedside table drawer for condoms. Now that Steph was ready, she wasn’t wasting any time fucking around. He laid back down in the center of the bed as he had before, lightly tugging on Shawn’s hair to pull him down to his lips as well before he started kissing him. He tasted like Stephanie first and foremost, an absolutely amazing feeling that was just so one-hundred percent her, but there was also a distinct tang of Shawn Michaels thrown into the mix. It was only when Steph forcibly moved his legs so she could get the condoms on their dicks that he pulled away.

“I think we were having a moment there, Steph,” Shawn teased with a smile, curling a finger forward to edge against her slit before she caught his hand on the way there, pushing it away.

“And you had your time with me earlier,” she reminded him, steadying her hands on Hunter’s shoulder to keep him on his back. “Now you get to have him.”

Shawn nodded and went to the end of the bed, lifting Hunter’s legs up like they were nothing and hooking them over either shoulder. “You should consider yourself lucky,” Steph continued, rubbing Hunter’s chest softly in a successful attempt to get him to relax so Shawn could work his apparent magic on him too. “It’s not too often that Hunt lets someone other than me use his hole.”

“Then I’ll be sure to make it worth all of ours’ time,” Shawn muttered, his face down between Hunter’s legs. “Is it okay to take the plug out now?”

“It’s fine,” Stephanie assured him, leaning down to kiss Hunter as Shawn managed to take the plug out even slower than he had put it in, eliciting an embarrassingly-loud moan.

“Sorry,” he apologized, feeling his cheeks heat up from both the stimulation and the shame. “Y-you can… you’re good to go, man.” Hunter closed his eyes as Steph chuckled, feeling the new touch of wet fingers against and inside of his ass. “Just… be slow.”

“Will do,” he heard Shawn say, the fingers being replaced by the head of the other man’s dick in short order. It had been so long since he’d had another real dick inside of him that he almost came the first time Shawn brushed his prostate, the incoming heat making him clench around his dick before Shawn was even all the way in.

“You like that, don’t you, baby?” Steph was at his ear, whispering as she gave one of his nipples a slight twist. “You like having his big cock inside you, filling you up?”

“Yeah,” Hunter gasped out, reaching up to keep her hand at his chest. “Can’t wait to have you on me too, baby.”

“Aw, _babe_ ,” she cooed, giving him another light pinch. “You always say the sweetest things.”

Hunter opened his eyes and watched as she moved on top of him slowly, sitting on the area just above his cock as Shawn picked up the pace inside of him, hands at his waist just behind Stephanie’s hips. “Shawn, you doing alright back there?” Steph asked, reaching a hand back to drag it down Shawn’s chest as Hunter struggled to keep his eyes open. There was so much going on, so much to see, and so much being done to him. It was overwhelming.

“Doing… great…” Shawn grunted out, gripping onto Hunter’s hips harder. “You?”

“I’m doing just fine, thank you for asking.” Stephanie looked back to Hunter, leaning forward until she and Hunter were chin-to-chin. “You ready, baby?”

“Born ready,” Hunter managed to say with a grin bordering on a groan.

Steph kissed his chin lightly and sat back up again, moving further back before and lowering herself down onto Hunter’s cock. “Holy fuck!” he exclaimed, bucking his hips up into an unexpecting Stephanie, who squeaked at the sudden movement. “I think I’m gonna - fuck, Steph, I think -”

“No, you’re _not_ ,” Stephanie reminded him, regardless of what the tug in his balls from all the overstimulation told him. “Not until I say.”

Hunter whimpered - and later he knew he’d laugh about it, someone his size whimpering like a little girl - and clenched around Shawn like his dick held the answers to all his problems as he rode it out, his cock throbbing inside of Stephanie as she rose and fell as well, the three of them in perfectly imperfect synchronicity. He’d never felt more full of life until that moment, his entire body trembling with the friction and pressure he was both giving and receiving.

“Hunter, Steph…” he heard Shawn choke out, stilling inside of him. “Please, I need to… please, I need to come _now_.”

“Hold on, Shawn,” Steph told him, taking measured breaths as she pressed her body down harder into Hunter’s.

“Stephanie, I can’t -”

Hunter knew she was waiting until she could feel that Hunter was close as well, wanting everyone to be near their climax (or close enough) at the same time, but that wasn’t always a foolproof plan. Still, if he knew his wife, it wasn’t going to be for lack of trying.

Stephanie tightened around Hunter’s cock, holding it inside her as she tweaked his nipple with one hand, rubbing her clit with the other. “Oh, fuck, Hunter - Shawn, you can go on, go on -”

With that approval, Hunter felt as Shawn came deep inside him, the condom catching it all but all of the feeling resonating between the two men. Knowing Shawn had came was all Hunter needed to be pushed over the edge, his hands coming up from where they were wrenched around the comforter to hold Steph flush against him, feeling her twitch as the dam of pressure Hunter was trying to hold back finally broke inside.

“God, I fucking love you,” he heard himself growl out as he came, moving a hand down next to hers to massage her clit just the way he knew she liked it, waiting until he heard that telltale breathy moan from Steph that let him know he’d done his job, and well. 

* * *

Shawn wasn’t sure what to say or do as he slowly unsheathed himself from Hunter, the cock ring still going strong but doing nothing for him except sending unnecessary sensations up his spine. Hunter was holding a prone Stephanie against him, likely whispering sweet nothings as they made no effort to move from their current positions.

“Well, I’m just… gonna go ‘head and leave now,” he said awkwardly as he turned away, pinching the end of the condom as he slid it off of his slowly-softening cock. “That was -”

“Shawn.” Stephanie’s voice pierced the awkward silence, and he turned around to see the two of them lying next to each other, spent but still somewhat in the moment. She scooted away from Hunter to make room for Shawn in the middle as the other man slowly took his own condom off, taking care to tie a knot in it before sliding the cock ring off.

He paused, unsure of what was going on, where he fit in all of this again. The space was there for him, he knew that much, but was it necessarily _right_ for him to go back?

Steph must have sensed his confusion, because all she did was smile tiredly and pat the mattress, taking the used condom from her husband and putting it on the side table away from the alarm clock next to her. “Get in here.” Hunter did the same, putting his arm up above the pillows to make a headrest for him.

With that kind of request, and how tired he was, he couldn’t exactly refuse. Besides, the bed looked better from the inside, and if he was wanted that badly…

He crawled from the end of the bed into the empty middle space, smiling as the two of them wrapped their bodies around him, Stephanie undoing her bra as she tucked in closer, letting him know that neither of them had plans of getting up again that night. As Hunter pulled the blankets up over the three of them before resting his head on Shawn’s shoulder, heat from all sides surrounded him, and if he wasn’t pretty positive that it _couldn’t_ be that, he might’ve mistaken it for puppy love.

As he closed his eyes, letting his head fall back on Hunter’s arm, he felt Stephanie press a kiss to his upper arm.

“Good boy.”


	5. that's Amore (Carmella and her boys)

Carmella loved her cousin Enzo more than anyone else in her life, but she was getting tired of having to listen to his bitching. Specifically, his bitching about the lack of New York-style _anything_ in the state of Ohio.

“Well, y’know, ‘Zo,” she tried to explain for the fifth time that day as Enzo was contemplating whether or not he really needed a pair of leopard-print Vans, “the funny thing about Ohio not bein’ like New York is, well… it’s not New York. An’ certainly not Manhattan.”

“But you would _think_ that there would be a coupla’ more New Yorkers here that would even out the bell curve, ‘Mella.” He picked up the pair of shoes and held them out to her for a final opinion. “Sawft?”

“Definitely not,” she assured him with a smile. “But I think you’re stressin’ out ‘bout this a little too much. There’s gotta be New Yorkers at OVU other than us.”

“I still don’t see why Pops wouldn’t let us go to NYU,” Enzo grumbled as the two of them headed to the cashier.

“Because _I_ got in and _you_ didn’t,” Carmella reminded him, smirking.

Enzo turned to frown at her. “I coulda gone community for a year!”

Carmella just shook her head, smiling. “It would’ve been too much for out-of-state tuition for the both of us now. Plus we’ll be happy here. Two hours from home is just far enough.” She rubbed his shoulder gently. “You pay an’ I’ll wait outside by the car.”

_Hopefully there_ will _be other New Yorkers there,_ she thought to herself as she walked away. _And hopefully there’ll be at least one there that can even ‘Zo out._

* * *

By the end of their second week there, Carmella’s first wish was fulfilled. For some reason the school attracted Floridians like a tourist to a Sabrett stand, but there were a handful of people she met that were from the Big Apple. That unfortunately included a junior in her math class, Zack, who just seemed _way_ too excited to be in Ohio rather than Long Island. For once, she couldn’t blame Enzo for not buying into the hype.

“I think I mighta made a friend, though,” Enzo reported as he accompanied her on her daily iced coffee run to the coffee shop on campus, Breaking Grounds. “Big fella,” he described, lifting his hand far above his head for emphasis. “Kinda quiet too.”

“So how would he be a friend of _yours_?” Carmella smirked as Enzo shot her a look. “I’m teasin’, ‘Zo. Don’t get your panties in a knot.”

“I don’t wear panties neither,” Enzo grumbled, before changing his tone to the way it was before. “He’s a nice guy. Dunno his name, but he’s in my math class.”

“Maybe you should find out his name before you start calling him a friend,” Carmella suggested, walking through the door to Breaking Grounds as Enzo held it open for the both of them. “You can come on awful strong though, so be gentle, hon.”

Her cousin crossed his heart. “I’ll be as soft as a lamb, ‘Mella. You can count on that.”

“You better,” she said as they stood at the end of the line, “‘cause I can’t be stickin’ up for you forever.”

Enzo just smiled his ‘yeah, right’ smile, and even Carmella had to admit that he was right.

* * *

“His name’s Colin,” Enzo said as he barged into her dorm room the next day, not bothering to announce himself further. “Colin Cassady.”

“Well, that’s just peachy an’ all, ‘Zo, but have you tried knocking on my door before you just waltz on in?” Carmella looked up from where she was (well, used to be) studying on her bed. “Honestly, you’re lucky I got a single and I don’t walk around with my bra off.”

“Even if you did, wouldn’t be nothing I’ve never seen before.”

“That was an _accident_!” she hissed, purposefully pulling up the straps on her tank top. “I thought you said you didn’t see nothin’.”

“Well, I did, and you just reminded me.” Enzo shrugged, like seeing one’s cousin’s breasts was an everyday occurrence. “Anyway, his name is Colin but one of his teammates on the basketball team called him ‘Big Cass’.” He pulled out the chair from Carmella’s desk - and really, when had he become so comfortable using _her_ stuff? - and sat down, leaning back. “I kinda like that name better than Colin.”

Carmella tabbed her textbook before closing it. “Call him Colin until you have permission to do otherwise.” She picked at her nails, thinking. “The name sounds familiar, though. I think I’ve heard of a ‘Colin Cassady’ before.” Before her and Enzo’s families had moved to Ohio two years prior, Carmella had prided herself on knowing pretty much everyone in four of the five boroughs (Staten Island didn’t count). “You said he’s tall?”

“He’s pretty damn tall, yeah.” Enzo raised his hand up above his head again. “Like seven-foot -”

“ _Feet_ , ‘Zo, seven- _feet_.”

“And you can’t teach that, y’know?” He crossed his ankles, leaning forward once more. “Come to think of it, I think he mighta had an accent. Wasn’t really paying attention.”

Carmella knew it wasn’t ladylike, but she couldn’t help but snort. “All this time you’ve been complaining ‘bout how things ain’t like New York and how you don’t know anyone here who really gets it but me, and you don’t notice probably the _most obvious sign_ that someone’s from the boroughs?”

Enzo looked indignant. “Well, I happened to get distracted by his pretty face.” Carmella had known about her cousin’s preferences (anything that moved, and lower standards for ‘anything’ when drunk) for a while now, so the fact that he was checking out some guy didn’t faze her in the slightest. She rolled her eyes, though. Typical Enzo. “What? He has a pretty face.”

“Tell ya what.” She reached over to grab her phone and open it to the OVU athletics website. “I’ll check the roster for basketball for a ‘Colin Cassady’. It’ll tell you all his stats: how tall he is exactly, age, and more importantly, where he’s from.”

“Fair ‘nough.” Carmella felt Enzo sit down next to her on the bed as the page for the basketball team loaded. Sure enough, about halfway down the page was a slightly-stringy looking guy named Colin Cassady. “Now where’s he from,” she murmured as she tapped his picture to open up more info.

“Manhattan, New York!” Enzo nearly fell off the bed as he read the words out loud. “Holy shit, you probably _do_ know him!”

“We both probably know him, ‘Zo,” Carmella said as she put her phone back on its charger, mission accomplished. “There’s your guy from New York for ya. Looks like you have a little bit in common.”

“Can’t wait  to text him ‘bout that.” When Carmella raised her eyebrows at him sharply, he had the decency to blush. Normally she would’ve found out about a development like this hours ago. “Did I mention I got his number?”

Carmella just clucked her tongue, sounding more like her and Enzo’s _nonna_ than she preferred. “Be easy with ‘im, ‘Zo, that’s all I ask.”

* * *

Two weeks later, Carmella hadn’t heard anything from Enzo about Colin, so she figured that she shouldn’t press the matter further. After all, with Enzo’s history of coming on so strong and the other guy apparently being pretty shy, it wouldn’t be too surprising if Enzo had ended up scaring him away.

She’d still probably bring it up one way or another when she went over to his dorm after her coffee run. It would probably be nice to text her cousin and ask if he wanted to come, but he hadn’t been texting her much - or stopping by her dorm unannounced, and she was grateful for that - and figured that one more missed event wouldn’t hurt.

“Hey, ‘Mella!” A familiar voice greeted her as she was walking to Breaking Grounds. “How you doin’?”

There stood her cousin, looking smug as all hell and wearing enough animal print to confuse a poacher standing next to a guy in OVU basketball practice gear who really did appear to be seven feet tall.

Suddenly, it hit her.

“You _did_ know him!” she shrieked, pointing at Colin, who looked (appropriately) startled at her reaction.

Enzo looked at her funny. “I told you he was in my math class -”

“No, no!” She took a moment to gather herself, walking toward the twosome as she spoke. “The Cage? Fourth Street in Manhattan - the Cage?”

Carmella watched as the proverbial light bulb dawned over both boys’ heads. “You were the short kid who tried to break my ankle when I was fifteen,” Colin remembered, almost in awe as he looked down at Enzo. “I _knew_ the name Enzo sounded familiar, but then again, I knew a lot of Enzos…” He looked at Carmella. “Were you the cousin who yelled at him for me?”

Carmella grinned, proud of her younger self. “Most likely.”

“ _You_ were the guy who blocked my lay-ups?” Enzo was floored. “Nah, man, I haven’t forgiven you in my head for that one yet.”

“Well, hopefully you can forgive me as your boyfriend now,” Colin replied, tugging Enzo against his side. Enzo blushed like he had back in Carmella’s dorm two weeks prior, and she thought to herself that she hadn’t seen him so flustered over anyone in a long time.

She smiled. “Boyfriend, huh, ‘Zo? And here you were bitchin’ ‘bout how you couldn’t find anything good from New York here in Ohio.”

“Yeah, well,” he admitted, shrugging more into Colin’s side. “I didn’t find anything _good_. I found the best thing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ignore the corny chapter title. I couldn't help myself.


End file.
